Swap Our Places
by November Envy
Summary: Some stories have no start and others have no end. Occasionally there are stories which share both fates. Thor comes to Midgard in search of their father after learning of Loki's latest deceptions. But when he makes a grave mistake in the heat of the moment both Thor and his brother are forced to endure an age old curse which forces them to walk a mile in each others shoes.
1. The Killing Blow

**Author Note:** So lets get some quick trigger warnings out the way. Some spoilers for the Doctor Strange end credit scene in this first chapter. There will be a 'kind of' death scene. I don't find it particularly strong on gore myself but my ability to cope with gore is strong. Beware this is eventually going to be a pseudo-incest slash fic, I'm sure if you've gotten this far that's what your here for but I just wanted to reintegrate. I write as I go and don't have a distinctive plan for where I want to take this story expect for my basic outline. But I do have an end game in mind. Therefore, as more becomes published I will add any possible trigger warnings at the top of the chapter. Expect angst, expect some average spelling, grammar, editing and basic word mistakes as I am without a beta. I will also pre-warn that this is something I'm running with while I have the inspiration. I'm not well known for completing fics and I'm back to Uni soon. So no promises of completion.

* * *

Some stories have no start and others have no end. Occasionally there are stories which share both fates. It would be hard to state at which exact point it had begun. Had it been that fateful night when the cosmic laws of Asgard had cursed them? Or was it the moment Loki invaded Midgard? Possibly had started the exact minuscule moment in time when Thor witnessed the light extinguish for Loki's eyes just before he had chosen to release his grip on Mjolnir and plummet into the abyss of the universe. Or maybe it was further back in time, on that blisteringly cold night upon Jotunheim when Odin had knowingly stolen the infant child of Laufey, thieving the rightful heir of Jotunheim and falsely naming him Odinson. Perhaps a better fit would be the instant it was all been set into motion, that night millennia foregone, in a time now lost to Midgardian memory; the moment when the Jotunheim military forces dared to step foot on Midgardian territory. Doing so while having the knowledge that this particular planet was under the protection of Asgard. If one where to ask Loki, he would have given the above as an answer and have been as polite as to offer a foul scowl while conveying such information. However, in contrast if one where to ask Thor when it had started he would likely shrug his muscled shoulders, look slightly bewildered at the stupidity of the question and reply matter-of-factly with: "The night of the battle."

And of course, in typical Thor-esque style that wouldn't have been in anyway helpful. There had been numerous battles between the brothers, each slightly more heinous than the last. However, this battle had taken place in New York City. This was their second physical fight to take place in New York, although this battle, unlike the first, was confined to Stark Tower and had accumulated far less collateral damage. Thor had taken his brother back to Midgard after discovering his deception in Asgard. Impersonating their father and allowing Thor to believe Loki dead once more was more of an emotional punishment than Thor could ever begin to explain. Thor should have killed Loki for it, like he had promised to do when he helped him escape the dungeon prisons of Asgard. And yet he couldn't. Thor told himself it was because Loki was the only person who may know where Odin was, and is only hope of finding his father alive. But believing that was growing harder and harder. Loki had 'sentenced' Odin to the same fate their father had once condemned upon Thor. To live upon Midgard. The only issue with finding Oden was that Earth was a rather sizeable planet and that Oden could be just about anywhere upon the blue orb. So, Thor had made his way to Stark Tower to begin the search, with his younger brother in tow. Tony was of course welcoming, but rather reclusive. All Thor knew was that something serious had gone down with Rodgers and every time he tried to approached the subject Stark had found an excuse to disappear into one of his many mechanical labs and would stay hidden away in there for hours on end.

It was three days after Thor had met with Stephen Strange, the sorcerer who supplied a good brew of ale… and tea, not that anyone need know Thor had tried any. Strange had stated his desire to help find Oden, and then promptly left. Supposedly to commence such an activity, but Thor hadn't heard a single peep of him since those three days' past. He supposed three days was a relatively short amount of time and that he needed to continue to be patient if he expected Strange to continue to work peacefully with him.

It had happened on that third day just as Thor was sitting down to a large beer and some silly human movie Natasha had insisted they watch. She had arrived earlier that day and Thor had been so happy to see her that he almost crushed her delicate frame with his hug. He felt like it had been centuries since he had seen her beautiful face. Or any of the Avengers for that matter. However, time had not treated Natasha well. She seemed gaunt and her classic coy smile was missing in action. Thor had asked how she was and if all was well but she had simply acted as if nothing was awry. Thor suspected that this to had something to do with Captain America and what had occurred during his time in Asgard, but he'd had the good grace not to pry. He did however not that Clint was nowhere to be seen and he had pause to wonder after the status of their friendship.

Nat had placed a large bowl of popcorn on the table and taken a seat on the other side of the couch, already munching happily away. Thor took the opportunity to attempt to break the ice that had hung in the air since her arrival. 'I appreciate the title, it is important for one to perform their best in battle, dying should be most honourable.'

Nat raised an eyebrow, 'Die Hard will be right up your ally. You'll be yippee ki yay-ing before you know it.'

Thor was highly confused. 'You humans have some odd names for weapons.' Nat's first laugh of the day was interrupted by a high-pitched whooping sound and the mechanical whoosh of medal security doors and blinds unfurling and encompassing Stark Tower. The medal blinds blocked out all natural light and the LED light globe sprang into action illuminating the entire living room. Thor jumped to his feet so fast that is legs bumped the glass coffee table and sent the popcorn and their drinks plummeting to the carpet. Romanoff was just as quick, only far more graceful.

"Loki."

* * *

The room was white, startlingly white. It was also, very notably barren. The only object in the room was in the corner against the furthest wall. It was a small sleeping coat which beds linen was equally as white. Loki had been attempting escape for almost a week now. It had been tedious. At times infuriating. Stark had surely tested him this time, but Loki _would_ accomplish this escape. Loki wasn't sure how Stark had managed to achieve such a feat with his Midgardian science, but he had somehow succeeded it tampering with the weight of atoms within the air in this godforsaken room on a molecular level and topped it off with a change in air pressurisation in thirty minute intervals. It had made preforming any magic practically impossible. It was clear this room had been designed to contain Loki and eliminate his magical abilities. But Stark and his hordes of interior architects had made a large oversight. Just because Loki wasn't adapted to performing magic in such a dense and heavy environment, did not mean he couldn't alter and relearn techniques until he finally found the right combinations for his magic to flourish in this hostile environment. Loki had focused all his attempts on relearning a basic charm to unlock deadbolts. He had been clinging to the expectation that Stark had flaunted his typical arrogant temperament and been so certain of his high-tech "Loki Prison" that he had only placed a basic deadlock on the door. The moment Loki felt the bolt slip out of the hole was one of the most incredibly satisfying he had experienced in quite some time. He smirked victoriously to himself and pushed the door open with one single finger. Too easy.

Far too easy. The door had moved less than a millimetre when the movement tripped what Loki could only assume was an alarm system. There was a loud sound of machinery springing into action, a shill whooping filled the Stark Tower compound and bright light-bulbs from above flooded the room and small hallway with a piercing light. Loki simply sighed in frustration. He should have known nothing was ever simple, especially where Midgaurd was concerned. He opened the door wide and stepped through into the hall where he could hear the pounding of feet upon stairwells below and shouts of communication. He figured there was no need to rush, he wouldn't be getting out of this without encountering at least _some_ of those pesky Avengers. He counted it a good day if he had to deal with three or less. Some days he chose not to count his brother among the team of foolhardy Earthlings, as that was like besting a child at a game of chest. Eventually Thor's defeat was always enviable.

Loki fixed a scowl on his face and began to stroll resolutely down the hall at a leisurely pace, his emerald cap billowing behind him.

'Hold it there, Alan Rickman.' A firm voice called as a red metal suit of armour appeared in the foyer which the hall way opened into.

'Was that meant to be a snipe?' Loki asked, eyebrow raise.

'I don't know Professor, you tell me.'

'Always a pleasure, Stark. But alas, I do not have time for your mindless babble tonight. Maybe another time. Say a millennium from now. Same time, same place?'

Stark produced a hallow forced laughed. 'Oh, that was almost witty, you know I don't know whether to give 10 points to Slytherin or deduct.'

'That I get.' His brother voice announced as his overlarge form rounded the corner of what must have been a stairwell. Clearly, an emergency regarding Loki resulted in bypassing the metal box the humans use for travelling between stories of buildings. He wouldn't deny that it pleased slightly that he was regarded so highly of a foe.

'That was the movie you made me watch last year!' Thor asserted excitedly, a gleam in his eye, clearly proud of himself for remembering. 'Yes, I see it, he does moderately look comparable to that Snake.'

'It's Snap-' Stark started as Romanoff materialised with who, or rather what, he could only assume was The Vision next to her.

'Enough!' Loki hissed, cutting off Stark. 'Had I the good fortune have foreseen this little reunion I would have not bother to attempt escape at all. This is painful. Now step aside or suffer.'

'I'm afraid we're at an impasse.' The spy said as she levelled a hand gun toward his face.

'The quim still mewls. Yes, child. I'm rather afraid we have.' Loki sneered, and if there was a twinkle of excitement in his eye at that moment then Loki couldn't have denied it was the excitement of preparing to best this sorry bunch.

'Loki, I warn you. You are at the end of your tether where I am concerned. Go back to your cell and I shall forget this foolish endeavor.'

'Shall we consider that?' Loki mused, tapping a finger to his chin. 'How about no, oaf?'

'Have it your way then, brother.'

The resulting battle was the kind of battle that is truly beyond description. Had it been described thoroughly and in-depth it would leave a reader dazed. Suffice it to say walls where demolished, glass windows shattered forcing shards of glass and security metal to rain down on the streets of New York, guns fired, lightening summoned, capes tugged rather variously, two bouts of Thor and The Vision exchanging Mjolnir between the pair of them, many instances of Loki summoning spectres to confuse his opponents and many, many insults and blows traded. Oh, and one or two lively mid-battle discussions over whether Loki was worthy of sitting the Throne of Asgard. Overall, Stark's neighbours in the adjacent buildings where considering calling the appropriate authorities to report a domestic depute and the maid would have a fit in the morning when she arrived for work.

It was in the dying moments of the battle, the last few minutes that the unthinkable happened. And that is where Loki and Thor would both agree it had 'officially' started.

Loki's thin battle blade had slipped from his grasp and skidded across the foyer which they were all now fight in. It had come to a stop just inches from Thor's boots. It was important to note that at this point Loki had Natasha in a head lock and was forcing his knee cap into her face again and again. Blood was flowing freely and Natasha was clearly becoming dazed and starting to lose her natural hand-to-hand combat advantage as the blood seeped into her vision. Moments before Tony had been forcibly thrown down an empty elevator shaft which had been destroyed during the fight, the elevator a twisted mess of intertwined melt. At some point in the heat of battle Thor had accidentally taken out the iron suits left hand side propeller, which resulted in Tony spiralling down to shaft when Loki had thrown him down it. Thankfully the cushioning system had deployed, as they had later found out. But Tony had been knocked unconscious by the impact for an unknown amount of time. The Vision was currently preoccupied with making sure the civilians who had stopped and crowed around the base of the build to watch didn't become pulverised by the large pillar which was about to fall through the now broken glass wall to ceiling windows. It very was well known by most of the Avengers that civilians where too curious for their own good, or dumb, as Clint had once put it. Where ever there was an increased risk of danger you would find cranked heads, stiff necks and phones being used to film violence and tragedy.

Nevertheless, that was how it came to be that everyone was far too preoccupied to save Thor from himself, or Loki from Thor. Thor battle autopilot had long since taken become the driving force. He picked up the knife and took four long strides towards the interlocked pair that where Nat and Loki. He smashed a fist into Loki's exposed face which sent his brother backwards. Loki instinctively let go of Nat. She fell to the floor with a groan. Thor instantly closed the space between Loki and himself and grabbed hold of his shoulder to keep him still. He thrust the blade between Loki's rib-cage in one smooth motion. It when hilt deep and settle within his brothers flesh with a sickly gurgling sound. When Loki heard the sound, he gasped and the smallest trickle of blood came trickling from between his lips. The blood was foamy and aerated. Loki raised his left hand to his lips and when his hand came away he stared intently at the foamy red substance which covered two fingers, as if glaring at it may make it disappear. The started expression on his face must have conveyed the gravity of Thor's actions because when Loki's eyes met Thor's he could see his own fear mirrored back.

'I-I th-think," Loki sputtered. Thor, who had unconsciously cupped Loki's face in his hands instantly attempted to shush him with "Don't talk. Don't talk. I'll get Stark. We'll fix it. I didn't mean too, I'll fix it.'

'N-no. I think you-you p-punched my lu-ungs.' More blood began to appear and Loki's breathing began to produce a consistent rattling sound with each inhale and exhale. Loki frowned and glanced down at the blade which sill impaled him. He grimaced as he took in the angle on which it was protruding out of his chest. It was a long thin blade. Thor must have miscalculated or slipped when he had stabbed his brother because it defiantly did not go in on a horizontal angle.

'I th-think you pun-punch-punched _both_.' Loki could feel himself becoming light headed and felt his legs start to give way beneath him, this couldn't be happening. It made no sense, the only thing he had even known to be true when he fought the Avengers was that Thor would never actually try to kill him. He looked desperately at his brother, he wasn't sure whether he was scared or embraced by defeat. Thor could fix it, right? Blond strands of hair clouded his vision and fluttered across his face like a summer breeze. Thor still smelled of Asgardian summers, as he always did. Loki began to wonder if Thor smelt like the summer or if Loki just associated the smell of Thor with summer days, green grass, and warm air. He realised he didn't care, he was just happy it was summer again. He could smell the flowers blooming in his mother's garden, and the air was humid and warm.

'No, you're a clone. You're not him. Stop this, Loki.' Thor shook him hard which made Loki feel extremely tired. He want to stay with the summer breeze, with the smells of summer. His eye began to feel heavy, and he felt as though if he would just close his eyes for just a few seconds and have a small nap and all would be better.

'Loki.' A voice was saying rather persistently. In fact, it was quite annoying. Loki just wished the voice would leave him to sleep and that the arms he was in would stop shaking him so damn hard. Couldn't they see he was just trying to get some sleep?  
'No, Loki. No. Don't do this. Don't. Stay. I'm sorry. I' so sorry. Please. Don't go. Wake up.'

'I'm sorry too.' Loki mumbled sleepily, though he could say why. He just knew it was important to tell the voice before he went to sleep.

Thor keep telling himself that this wasn't happening. It was clearly one of Loki's clones, those stupid shadow puppets he liked to summon. It had to be, he'd done this before, he was simply doing it again to hurt Thor. This was just another part in the play that Loki had them all unknowingly acting in, like life-sized marionettes. But Thor could hear a voice in the back of his head whispering maliciously to him that something felt distinctively different to last time. He didn't think there could be a more intense feeling than the one he had experienced that night on Svartalfheim. That night he had truly believed his brother dead. But this felt different, this had the stench of finality. This felt like the world was preparing to implode.

Nat was back on her feet and at Thor's side now, a hand resting on his shoulder, a grim shocked expression masked her face.

'No, Loki. No. Don't do this. Don't. Stay. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please. Don't go. Wake up.' Thor begged. He could feel the hot tears burning in the corner of his eyes, hazing his vision. He heard a distant sob which was shrill with pain and devastation and yet empty and hollow all at once. He thought that the person that sob had emitted from was the only person in the world who could understand his pain. Later, he would realise it was him, but at the time it had seemed to be on the other side of the room, or possibly the world. Thor kept trying to shake his brother to keep him from closing his eyes, to force his shallow breath to become deep. His hands where slick with a mixture of Natasha and Loki's blood. He stared desperately at Nat, she must have had an answer. But she simply shook her head softy and squeezed his shoulder. Her eyes where filled with what Thor was scared to identify as pity, but in truth it was only great sadness.

'I'm sorry too', The voice was so soft he almost missed it and for a moment he thought he'd imagined it. Two rattling breaths followed and then a final and sickening gurgling sound.

The last thing Thor could remember was screaming at his brother's corpse and beating on his chest with a fist. After that, nothing but darkness.


	2. I Think We Have a Problem

Loki awoke in a room with multiple machines making multiple noises, each as ridiculous sounding as the last. It gave him a strong headache in the front of his temples. His body felt far heavier than he remembered, how long had he slept? He gingerly opened his eyes and inspected the dimly lit room. He was on a medical gurney with a mattress that was incredibly thin and extremely uncomfortable. One of the nosier machines was placed next to him at the top of the bed. It had cords which Loki assumed attached him to the machine as he noted the little pings being admitted from it were matching the current rhythm of his heart beat. To the other side of the gurney was a chair. The woman who occupied it was snoring softly, her head tilted back at an awkward angle and red hair tangled across her face. It was Romonoff.

Loki sat bolt upright. The movement startled Natasha who awoke with a start.

'You're awake.' She mumbled in a groggy, sleep deprived voice.

'Obviously.' Loki replied in a slow drawl. But something wasn't right with his voice, it was deeper than he remembered and his tongue felt uncomfortable as he tried to form the word, as if it wouldn't normally move in such a way. He noted his enunciation was off, he didn't like it one bit. Had he had a stroke? He was too young for that, surely. And God's weren't supposed to suffer acquired brain injuries. He prayed he wouldn't be the first.

Natasha frowned at him and Loki noted the plaster cast which covered her nose. It looked ridiculous, and must have been the cause of her unfortunate snoring. The sight of it brought a vivid memory back. The injury had been cutesy of Loki's knee cap. He smiled, it was rather good work if he did say so himself. He hoped her nose would be crooked for the rest of her life, a blistering reminder that beauty was fleeting and would fade. Maybe small children would jeer her as she walked in the streets. No sooner had he thought that than did all his memories start to return to him, one by one, murky at first as if underwater, but slowly becoming clearer.

'How do you feel?' Natasha asked as she leaned in closer to make eye contact. She seemed concerned, which in turn made Loki feel disconcerted and imposed upon.

'Where's my brother?' Loki asked instead of bothering to gratify her with an answer to such a stupid question.

Romanoff remained quiet for a minute.

'Where is he?' Loki repeated, becoming inpatient.

'He's alive." She replied and offered a gentle smile.

'Good. I want the pleasure of strangling the life out of him for myself.'

'What?'

Loki grabbed all the wires and cords which attached him to multiple machinery and violently pulled until nothing remained attached.

'What are you doing?' She exclaimed. 'Don't be so rash. You don't want it to be like this. It was a mistake, you know you didn't mean too.' She was trying to force him back down on the bed but she was little to no match for him. He ignored her and effortlessly pushed her to one side.

'Stop. Just sit down, Thor, and we'll talk about this.'

Loki paused mid-stride. Slowly, he turned on his heels to face her.

'What in Valhalla did you just call me?'

It would be an understatement to say that Natasha looked confused. "Um… Thor." She repeated slowly as if communicating with a particularly dense three-year-old. Loki scowled at her. He didn't understand what had brought on her bout of insanity but he decided he would humour her. He glanced down the line of his body. And shouted.

* * *

A distant shout from above followed by a loud clattering woke Thor from a deep slumber. He instantly wished it hadn't. Pain flooded his body. His legs buzzed with the sensations of pins and needles, and within his chest he felt a searing pain which was akin to being branded with a smoulderingly hot poking iron. He noted that the simple act of breathing was distinctively uncomfortable. When he finally couldn't claim to be hanging onto the last few precious moments of sleep any longer he forced his eyes open. He was in Tony Stark's panic room, the room which resided three levels below the ground level of Stark Tower. He recognised it distinctively from the one and only time Tony had shown it to him. He'd taken all the Avengers down into the belly of Stark Tower, shortly after the Battle for New York. He'd told them that this was his ultimate integration room, that the mirrors where actually double-sided glass and that they were under constant surveillance with three 24/7 recording cameras hidden within the roof. Yes, it was a panic room, in case the worst where to ever happen. But the room doubled as Stark Tower's ultimate torture chamber. He had wanted Thor's permission to bring Loki down here. To pelt him with question after question, to gain an insight into his motive, to learn more about the Chitahuri. To prepare for any other possible attacks from other planets. He'd sworn there would be no torture involved and that Thor could be on the other side of the glass and watch over the whole affair. But Thor had simply wanted to get his brother home before he could do any more damage to this world, or the Avengers any more damage to private property.

He attempted to sit up, but found his hands where chained by adamantium shackles to a cold metal mortuary slate which he had been laid out on. He noted instantly that his hands where not his own. They were slimmer, pale instead of their normal golden brown, and relatively devoid of callouses. He felt more than knew that something was off. He pulled with the full extent of his strength, trying desperately to break the chains, but it did nothing but cause the ever-present pain in his chest to amplify. Thor grunted as sweat seeped from his forehead as a result of his fruitless the efforts. It was as if his muscles had wasted away while he slept and his strength had abandoned him. He was preparing to try again when he heard the vault's round handle being span from the other side. Someone was entering.

'Tony!' Thor cried. He had never been happier to see Stark, clearly he would be able to make sense of what was happening. He was in his normal get up, dark jeans and a band tee-shit which had been double layered with a long white sleeved top. He was holding a clipboard and glancing over the papers it held with an expression of curiosity. He hummed in a fascinated tone before he finally looked towards Thor.

'Tell me, how does one cheat death? Clinically dead for six hours, I meant that must be some new record. And the way you Asgardians heal, it simply astounding. Shame really, I would have been so fascinated to conduct an autopsy. I've always wanted to be published in a medical journal.'

'Tony, what is happening? Where is Loki? I must see him.'

The amusement on Tony's face was complexing Thor to no end, didn't he understand? This was no joke.

'I always knew you were bat shit crazy, but this is new level. You really think I'm thick enough to fall for whatever your trying to pull?' Tony laughed. He placed the clipboard down on a metal trolley and step closer towards Thor. 'Perhaps you could make yourself useful for once and provide some insight into how exactly it is we got here.' Tony was closing the distance between them, his long strides brought him face to face with Thor and suddenly he was leaning over Thor in an imposing and threatening manor. His face was as hard as iron and his expression spoke of unspoken threats. 'Do tell me, how the exact moment you clinically died Thor suffered a spectacular myocardial infarction and dropped dead too? Only to be restored to life an six hours? Strange coincidence, huh?'

Thor was at a loss for words. What on earth was Stark talking about. Thor, dead? What on earth was a myocardial infarction and when did he have one? Something was very, very wrong. Who did Tony think he was? Did he not realise just who he was talking to? Did he forget himself? Did he forget that he was speaking to a God far older than himself?

'Stark, please. I think there has been a misunderstanding.'

'A misunderstanding?' Tony lifted an eyebrow. 'Yes, you're quite right. I must have jumped to completely irrelevant conclusions when you invaded my planet, threaten my people, tried to kill me and my friends and destroyed half of my city with space invaders. Quite right. What say we put it behind us and braid one and others hair?'

Silence filled the room, it echoed of the walls and became defining. Nether man seemed to know what to say next. When it became too much Thor finally broke the silence. 'What's a myocardial infarction?'

Tony was about to answer when the intercom system crackled to life and Natasha's voice flooded the small room.

'Tony, I think we have a problem.'

'You _think_ we have a problem' A deeper voice rumbled in the distance. 'I'm _blond!_ That is certainly a _problem_!'

'Ok, cool it sweet checks.' Nat's voice snapped back, clearly exasperated with the other person.

Tony had left Thor's side and was pressing his finger down on a white button which was located on a black box next to the entrance.

'What is it Romanoff?' Tony spoke into the box.

'I think you have the wrong guy in the panic room.'

'What?'

'Just sit Th-, I mean Loki up and let him look in the mirror.'

Tony frowned and turned an uneasy eye towards Thor.

'Are you sure?' He asked of the box.

'Just trust me here.' Nat's voice replied in a peevish tone. There was a loud crash in the background and Natasha sighed in anguish. 'Loki, just sit down! Christ's sake! Tony, could you be quick about this, I have a situation on my hands.'

'Ok, ok.' Tony said, throwing his hands up in defeat.

'What's happening?' Thor asked as Tony began to unlock the hand cuffs.

'How would I know?' Tony hissed as he helped Thor to sit up. The pain in his chest intensified and Thor grunted with the effort it took just to sit in an upright position.

Tony pointed towards the mirrored double-side glass and Thor followed his prompting, gazing at their reflections. Expect it wasn't their reflections, at least not Thor's. The mirror reflected Tony standing next to a very pale and very worn down looking Loki. And it _was_ defiantly Loki. His black unruly hair, his moss green eyes, his thin lips, those haughty check bones. Thor lifted a hand to his chin and tilted his face to one side and to his horror the Loki residing in the mirror followed suit.

'Mother of a Norse!' Thor exclaimed. However, this time he took the effort to listen to his own voice. It wasn't his voice at all! Thor's heart began to pulse harder and he felt the urge to run. He might have done just that if it hadn't been for the way he was beginning to feel feint. Dizziness clouded his vision. He grabbed desperately at Tony.

'I'm Thor.' He roared. 'I AM THOR! Get me out of him!'

'Hey, whoo! Relax!'

'RELAX!? RELAX! I'm _TRAPPED_! This is wrong, this isn't right! Where is Loki. Find Loki. Make him undo this!'

His breathing was becoming far too rapid and he was starting to feel the loss of control. Tony was busy untangling himself form Thor's grasp, trying to escape. When he finally freed himself, he sprinted back to the little specking box, pressed the button, and shouted into it.

'Make that two situations! Get down here now!'


	3. Freaky Thursday

It had taken thirty full minutes before anyone could calm Thor down. In the end, it had been Loki. After much hysterical yelling, and back and forth, he had grown intensely irritated with the rather redundant situation. The yelling was getting them nowhere and quite frankly he was becoming highly concerned as he had never seen Thor like this before. Normally it was Thor who had control of every possible situation. He was at wits end with his brother ridiculous meltdown. So Loki had simply stepped forth and resolutely slapped his brother hard across the face. The sound had echoed about the walls of the panic room, silencing all other noise. It had been strange in more ways than one to strike his own face, but a part of him had found it oddly satisfying.

'Get it together.' He demanded as Thor nursed he sting from his injured face with a single hand. 'We need to figure this out and your hysteria will not free me from this unnatural prison.' He gestured down at Thor's huge and overlarge body.

'Fuck me.' Tony muttered. He was pinching the skin of his forehead and trying fruitlessly to rub away the stress which resided behind his temples. 'You expect me to believe that Thor is….' He gestured to Loki's body. 'and that Loki is… this could just be another scheme. Prove to me that you're not Thor.'

'How?' Loki asked as he scrunched Thor's forehead into a frown. It looked odd and out of place. There was something no quite right in the way that Thor's blue eyes clouded with frustration.

'I'll prove it.' Said a soft defeated voice. Thor lifted what was once Loki's head to face the other three. Natasha was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. She had long since forgone input in favour of simply watching the unfolding situation progress. It was rather entertaining watching three grown mean shouting pointlessly at one and other.

'Nat,' Thor said in Loki's low cold voice. 'Before I left for Asgard you confined in me. You said if you couldn't make it work with Bruce then you could not make it work with anyone.'

Thor's booming laughter shook the room as a sarcastic tone said: 'The quim and the beast? Now I've heard everything!'  
'Loki.' Thor hissed dangerously in a tone that clearly implied that Loki would get only one warning.

Natasha stood bolt upright. She seemed highly uncomfortable with this turn of events, her bright eyes darted from Thor, to Tony, to Loki and back to Thor. Or was it back to Loki? She guessed it depended on perspective but she was slowly growing used to the idea that when she saw Loki's body she was in actuality watching Thor and vice versa. Tony was eyeing her closely, waiting for conformation. Nat sighed and simply nodded her head in way of response.

'Well, that was... enlightening.' Tony said with a raised eyebrow, admitting an air of pure amusement. He'd suspected for a long time now, but conformation was sweet.

'How do we fix this.' Thor asked.

'Well,' Tony mused. 'I guess our best chance is to understand why it happened in the first place, then we may stand a chance of reversing this.'

'He's right.' Nat agreed as she eased herself off the wall. 'Think about it, what happened to cause this? What was outside of the normal?' Nat gazed towards Thor in a sharp and pointed manor. The green eyes which had once belonged to Loki instantly filled with a deep of shame. He remained silent.

'Let me refresh your memory brother.' Loki hissed in Thor's deep monotone. 'You _killed_ me.'

'I'm sorry, Loki. I did mean too.'

'Did mean too?' Loki growled, crossing Thor's large arms over his chest and protruding his chin upwards in an aloft manor. 'Well, thank goodness you hadn't meant too. Imagine if you _had_ meant too. I may have, oh, I don't know, entered a state known as death?'

'I died too!' Thor replied as if that would somehow make them even and erase the slate.

'What a shame it wasn't a permanent state.' Loki retorted in a ugly tone while he took a odious step toward his brother. Thor was about to snap back but Nat spoke over him.

'No, Loki. Thor's right, he died too, I mean consider it for a moment. Tony and I couldn't figure out what had happened. Thor had a heart attack which made no sense to us at all. He's perfectly fit and young. And a demi-god. It didn't make sense at the time. The only thing we could put it down to was broken heart syndrome.'

Tony scoffed making rather clear he didn't believe in such nonsense as broken heart syndrome. Nat continued, choosing to ignore him.

'But think about it. It can't be a coincidence that Loki dies and Thor follows suit only for _both_ of their heart rhythms to return to normality after six hours. Despite us giving up on attempts to resuscitate Thor five hours before that. And then you both wake up within minutes of each other after being out cold for two days.'

'Sounds an awful lot like magic to me.' Tony said. 'Have you pissed of any Asian restaurant owners lately, read any cryptic fortune cookies, felt any earthquakes?' Tony laughed and clutched at his sides, enjoying his own joke. Loki and Thor just stared at him in utter bemusement while Nat rolled her eyes and said 'Come on Tony, try to be serious, just this once.'

'It's Freaky _Thurs_ day. Get it? Oh, this is great. Loki is defiantly Lohan, yeah? Brooding, moody and heading down a dark path.'

'Anyway,' Nat interjected, shooting a warning glance in Tony's direction. 'This has to be connected to Thor killing Loki. I don't know how, but it is the only clear correlation.'

The room became quite as all four reflected on the situation at hand, trying to find any other cause or connection. Thor busied himself with staring intently at the wall and trying not to provoke his brother in any way, shape, or form.

Time ticked on as they all remained silent and contemplating, finally the silence broke. 'Come to think of it, Stark might be right.' Loki said in Thor's deep baritone. 'It might be magic.'

Thor snapped his head towards Loki and raised a black thin eyebrow. 'I swear to Hel, Loki, if your magic had anything to do with this I'll-'

'What, kill me?' Loki suggested, a glint of entertainment sparked in blue eyes. Thor looked utterly hurt and devastated at the very suggestion and could only offer a non-committal grunt in reply. 'Because that was so successful last time. Hold you tongue for once in your miserable existence and listen. When I was learning magic, I use to spend days on end in the castle library, searching books and old tomes for new spells and techniques. I came across a book once which was full of myths and legends about old magics. In a chapter about lineage curses it mentioned body swaps. I paid it no mind as the magic it utilised was older than time and wasn't relevant to what I was researching at the time.'

'I remember father telling me once that there where multiple lineage curses on our family.' Thor chimed in. 'He said there were in place to protect the integrity of the crown.'

'We're going to need that book.' Loki said firmly. Tony sighed. 'Fine. I'll find a way to contact Asgard. With a little bit of configuration to my latest inventions it may be possible. I've been studying inter-galaxy communication and I think I've found a way. I was going to unveil it at my next convention but I guess there no fun in surprises.' His tone was sarcastic but he truly looked a little disappointed at the thought that there would now be less intrigue when he introduced his new telecommunications program. 'We'll have someone find that book and bring it to us. In the meantime, I want both of you on the penthouse level.' He pointed at Thor and Loki menacingly. 'If even one of you tries t leave this tower I will detain you with any force necessary. No way am I letting Loki out of sight, and Thor I'm sorry but we can't have you strolling around New York in Loki's meat suit. There would be riots and assassination attempts.'

Thor and Loki's eyes met. It seemed to Tony that they were in the mists of a silent discussion, or rather an argument. Loki seemed moderately irritated while Thor's expression was firm and commanding. Loki sighed in a displeased manor and rolled his eyes.

'Fine.' He agreed, and Thor smiled encouragingly. It was rather disconcerting to watch Loki's lips contort with a genuine and earnest smile, it was so out of place that it was almost intimidating.

'Ok,' Said Thor happily. 'We'll do it. Just get the book Stark, and any other book in the library which may apply to our predicament. Heimdall is ruling in my father's stead while we are absent, he will assist you, you must speak with him.'

'Will do.' Tony said as he turned casually and made to leave the room. 'Oh, and Nat,' He said in a flippant tone as he reached the door. 'Contact the Cap. Tell him we need Barton. I want him on security detail, he won't hesitate to kill Loki if he attempts to escape.' And with that Tony disappeared beyond the door, leaving Natasha to gap opened mouthed after him. He wanted her to do what? The last time she had spoken to Barton they had been opposing one and other. And what on Earth made him think Steve or Clint would want anything to do with either of them? She missed Clint more than words could ever begin to explain. She missed Laura's beautiful home cooking, the children's coy smiles and all the truly horrendous and incomprehensible drawings that hung from the family's fridge. Most of all she missed Clint's guidance and his blind faith in her ability to redeem herself.

 _'We're still friends, right?' Nat had teased in a playful tone, but the question itself had an underlying quality of sincerity._

 _'Depends on how hard you hit me.' Clint had retorted with that spirited glint in his blue eyes and a bashful smile._

Thor was staring at her rather intently, clearly observing the note of tension. Under the intent watch of those oddly green eyes she felt ill-at-ease. In this moment, she wished more than anything that she could feel comfortable talking to him. That she could spill her inner thoughts to her friend and rest assured in his strong and comforting presence. But the idea of talking to Thor while he was trapped in the man who had rummaged around so freely and almost destroyed her best friends mind was too much. Any air of reassurance was gone from Thor and had instead been transferred to his brother. She felt she would rather talk to Thor's body with the menace trapped within than speak with Loki's body and Thor's consciousness. It was all highly confusing and she was starting to acquire a dull ache in the back of her head from thinking on it too hard. She had been taught as a spy to never rely solely upon her vision. The world was full of illusions that could not be trusted. Nevertheless, she found herself desiring to continue believing that the lumbering blond was the good, if slightly overzealous, guy. The demigod she had known and loved. Instead, he was trapped in the tall, learn and dark body of a man whom she had grown to despise and hate. She groaned inwardly. The next few days where not going to be enjoyable to say the least.

'We'll boys, I have my marching orders.' She forced herself to say and fixed a fake smile across her face. She made a hasty exit, but not before turning to take one last glace at the pair. They were standing both with folded arms, both as tense as the other, neither quite making eye contact but both watching the other out of the corner of his eye. She felt a pang of pity for them and wondered how long it would be before one would attempt to kill the other again. She shook her head in disapproval as she realised it was like having children. Except these children where fully fledged adults and millennia old, yet still acting like spoiled brats. She realised that she did not envy the task their mother must have had in raising them. She tried to imagine either of them as newborns but she only saw pink screaming babies who spat their pacifiers. For some odd reason baby Thor still had a beard in her mind's eye. Resolutely she told herself to snap out of it, and turned her back on the pair. When she was finally out of ear shot, she called Vision.

'Natasha, what can I do for you?' His calm and melodic voice asked.

'Come down to the panic room and assist Thor and Loki back to the penthouse. I don't want them on the loose in the tower by themselves. Make sure they don't leave your sight until Agent Barton arrives.'

With the 'child care' taken care of, Nat forced herself to make her next call, the one she would most certainly rather have not.


	4. Mutual Abominations

**Author's Note:** If you have managed to get this far, congratulations, you deserve this well earned hint of smut. Some quick trigger warnings for masturbation and descriptions of physical (and to some degree emotional) pain.

* * *

The first night had been by far one of the hardest for Thor. After Vision had escorted Loki and Thor back to the penthouse the brothers had split ways and both receded to their respective bedrooms. Thor had craved a long and hot bath. He felt foul and dirty, he imagined that sleeping through two entire days and sweating throughout a fitful sleep would make him smell like the rotten carcass of a wild bilsnipe. Undressing himself was a tedious task, it made him feel raw with pain. The deep stab wound throbbed upon his chest and radiated pain down into his limbs with every slight moment. He tried to ignore the irony and prophetic nature of his current state. Thor was being forced to intimately deal with the repercussions of the mortal blow he had dealt his younger brother in his moment of rage. It seemed an almost fitting punishment. Still, that didn't make it any easier to deal with. While he had slept, someone must had taken the time to clean the wound, dress it it and wrap his entire upper chest with cotton compression bandages. It was only now as Thor stood stark naked in the reflection of the bathroom mirror that he unwrapped the dressing and examined the damage he'd done.

Loki's body was sickly pale and his completion was akin to wax as a result of the blood loss, while in comparison the wound was deep gash of an angry bloodshot red and the flesh surrounding it was raw. The sides of Loki's wound had been knit back together with black sutures which only served to make it appear uglier. He noticed that Loki's body had lost some tone and defining over the last two days and he appeared slim and undernourished, whereas before he had had the hint of toned muscle. Thor forced himself to inhale deeply in an effort to calm his raging mind. Distantly he could hear the deep roll of thunder. He tried to relax further, to ignore his guilt and the intense sensation self-loathing which was building within his gut. What he had done to Loki was so wrong that he didn't know where to begin to look for forgiveness. Loki may forgive him in time, if Thor was lucky. But Thor was almost certain he'd never forgive himself. As he stood shaking in front of the mirror he couldn't help but take in the image of his brother's nakedness. He had not seen Loki's body this intimately in centuries. Not since the days of their youth, when they had spent long summers afternoons in clear pools of crystal blue water. Dipping in and out of the water too cool off, nothing but their bare skin to shield them from the blistering sun. It had all seemed so innocent and childish back then. It was long ago now, yet a part of Thor remembered it as if it had only been yesterday. Loki had still been growing into himself at that stage. Adolescence was shaping him and slowly turning the boy into a man. Thor remembered observing his brother's body move, inspecting the way Loki was transforming. He'd desired to slow the process, to keep his little brother little forever. Though he had wonder after his brother's effortless grace, how each movement had seemed predetermined. The way his green eyes calculated every minute detail of their surroundings, the way his pristine white skin seemed almost luminous under the light of day.

It was clear now that that time had long since passed and Loki was now a man grown. His shoulders had broadened significantly, his limbs had grown past their once lanky disposition. His face had swapped boyishly charming features for a more dark and foreboding nature. And his green gaze had sharpened, allowing his eyes to project an air of illusive appeal. He admired Loki's slim hips and the was his torso hinted at the beginning of abs and the way his arse was perfectly firm. Thor couldn't help but feel himself stir as he beheld his brother's inexplicably striking physique. Loki had grown into an attractive man and Thor could not deny it. Forcefully he bit his lip and turned away from the mirror. He was disgusting and unworthy of Loki's brotherhood. How ratchet could he be that he would even fathom allowing himself to feel these repulsive passions, born from desire of his own brother's body. It was a blight on his character that he would even consider regarding Loki in such away. Most of all considering Loki had not been able to consent to Thor's witnessing of his naked form. Thor was meant to protect Loki, and of late it was becoming clear that he was failing in a spectacular manor. How could he desire the body he himself was trapped within? It was all simply insanity, Thor was meant to guard Loki from harm and yet he was the one inflicting all the destruction. First, he had temporally killed him and now he dishonoured him by entertaining such impure thoughts. He forced himself to disregard Loki's manhood as it stirred to become semi-erect, and instead he forced himself into the bath tub. He hissed as the blisteringly hot water met his skin. He forced himself to endure the pain as the water collided with the fresh wound and it sent tingling busts of white hot pain throughout his midsection. He decided that it was a fitting penalty for his latest depravities. Besides, a part of him enjoyed the agony. It provided a great distraction from the inner turmoil within his own corrupt mind.

* * *

In contrast, Loki's first evening spent trapped within Thor's body was rather pleasant. Sure, he detested having been forced into Thor's lumbering boar of a body. However, once the shock wore off he couldn't help but find it all slightly amusing, he had to admit that he wished he had thought of a trick this elaborate beforehand. The havoc he could have reaped with Thor's body under his control was endless in its possibilities. He was tempted to defy Stark. If he left the building looking like this he could bring the state of New York to its knees in a matter of minutes. He wondered briefly if it would infuriate Thor as much as he hoped it would. A smirk came to his lips as he imagined how his brother's face would contort in fury as he watched Loki bring Midgard down in a matter of minutes, all the while making it seem as if Thor himself had been the true villain of tale. However, when he realised it would be Thor's expressions displayed across his own face the idea suddenly lost most of its appeal and he decided against it. It would not be nearly as satisfying witnessing defeat and hopelessness spread across his own features. He would stay in Stark Tower, for now at least. It served him well to keep a close eye on Thor. Loki knew his brother was as dense as a log, and he wouldn't put it past him to do something stupid whist in control of Loki's body. What if the big oaf got himself killed while they were in this current predicament? Would that mean that Loki would be trapped like this for the rest of his incredibly long existence? He did want to even give that thought merit. Instead he retreated to his bed and decided to focus on examining Thor's body. He wouldn't deny he had always been envious of his brother. Envious of his natural physique and so much more. He was envious of the way Thor gained muscle effortlessly, the way his skin shimmered golden bronze even through the depth of winter, the way his smile was almost blinding in it beauty. But eventually Loki's envy had given way to attraction and desire. At first, he'd attempted to ignore it, push it down deep inside and never let it see the light of day. But that had failed spectacularly in a matter of months. His next resort had seen him attempt to withdraw from his brother's presence. In retrospect, maybe that had been his life's biggest mistake as the distance had only served to allow him to plant the seeds of bitter loathing which would later grow into his deep hatred of Thor and Odin. All he had wanted was for Thor to notice him, to look upon him, but the further Loki had withdrawn the less Thor remember to take note of him. And the less Odin had favoured him, To be fair, he was never present to allow his father to show him any favours.  
He had dreamt of a day when Thor would return his feelings even though he knew it would never come. In the end, it had turned him cold of heart and his emotions became frayed which resulted in a resounding numbness. It had been a world of agony in which he existed, but he had known he had no one else to blame for its creation other than himself. There had been a small part of him that had been relieved the night he had discovered he wasn't actually related to Thor, but there had also been a sinking feeling. He knew Thor would never relinquish the title brother, that he would argue against all reason. In Thor's eyes Loki would always be his brother, blood or not.

But now, Thor's body was his. It belonged to him and he could do with it as he pleased. He didn't have to watch him from the shadows or merely fantasise about touching him. Loki felt Thor's cock harden beneath the fabric of his pants. Loki's heartbeat accelerated as he smoothed a large hand over the bulge. It was hot to the touch and Loki could help but moan slightly. He bit his lip as he pulled off the tee-shirt they had dressed him in while he slept and discarded it upon the floor. Thor's chest was covered in scars, both old and new. He eyes where instantly drawn down to one which rested just below his ribcage. It was small but thick with scar tissue. He hadn't thought it possible but somehow it served to heighten his arousal further. Knowing that he had permanently marked Thor's skin gave him an illicit thrill. He felt a smirk of pleasure graze his lips as he allowed Thor's manhood to spring free from his pants. It was flushed dark with arousal and Loki licked his lips in excitement. He almost didn't want to touch it, he was scared that the moment he made contact some sacred illusion would be broken. He inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and made himself take Thor's throbbing cock into his wide hand. It stole the breath from his lungs and he was forced to hiss as his nerve endings burst into life with thrills of pure ecstasy. He made himself to wait a moment, to let him collect himself. Slowly the daze past and Loki began to move his hand in steady, tight strokes. His thumb caught and rubbed at the tip with each upwards stroke, he could feel the wetness there as his excitement grew. Cautiously, Loki reached his other hand down and cupped Thor's balls. Gentle at first, but slowly intensifying, his grip becoming tighter and tighter. It wasn't long until he could feel himself careening towards the edge of orgasm. The name uttered upon his lips as he came was the same as it had been for centuries now.


	5. Deliverance

This chapter has been resubmitted as someone kindly pointed out I was spelling Xena wrong. It's the exact same chapter just with the correction

* * *

Steve had been happy to hear Nat's voice and didn't seem to resent her in the least. He wanted to know how she was going, to make sure she was taking care of herself. She told him where he could stick his concern, because he knew better than anyone that Nat could handle herself. The sound of his laughter over the phone was almost infectious. She was glad that there were no bad feelings between them despite the resent upheaval. She knew Tony and Steve would never see eye to eye over an issue as big and important as the Sokovia Accords and she doubted she could ever entirely agree with either of them. But it was heartening to know that Steve still had her back. Getting him to agree to let them have Clint was easy. Getting Clint to agree to come was the real challenge.

'No. No way am I going back there.'

'Clint,' Natasha tried. 'This is Loki we are talking about.'

'No,' He insisted. 'It's Stark we're talking about.'

'Oh, come on. Tony is your friend.'

'Friends don't put friends in jail cells, Natasha.'

There was a moment of silence.

'Do it for Thor.'

Clint groaned in exasperation.

'Tony wants you here to stop Loki from leaving. He thinks you're the only person who has both the skill and the desire to kill him if he tries to escape again. If you don't do this then he'll find someone else and they _will_ kill Loki.'

'And that would be a problem, why?' Clint asked.

'Because it would break Thor, and I know you don't want that.' The line crackled as Clint took a moment of silence to consider.

'Ok,' He finally agreed. 'But only because I want to see Tony's face when my arrow misses.'

Nat smiled softly to herself. She knew that translated to 'for Thor'.

Hawkeye had arrived the following morning. Not long after which Tony called a group meeting in the conference room. The mood in the room was tense when all were finally assembled. Loki was moodily shooting daggered glances in Thor's direction from his seat on the other side of the oval shaped table, arms firmly crossed against his chest. Thor was slumped in his chair, allowing Loki's long strands of hair to hide his face. He was exuding and aura of guilt which made everyone else feel on edge. Clint was standing rather than sitting, occasionally eyeing Tony wearily, his sense of betrayal still obvious by the expression worn his face. Every now and then he would glance towards Loki's body in an ominous manor. Clearly, he was still busy grappling with fact that he was here to guard Thor's body, and not Loki's. It left him feeling highly conflicted and he had to repeat a mantra in his head _'Shoot at Thor, not at Loki. Shoot at Thor not at Loki'._ He had no intention of killing Loki, but if he tried to make an escape then Clint would gladly slow him down with an arrow to the shin and a kick to the teeth.

Natasha was watching both Clint and Tony. She was attempting to gauge the mood and the likelihood of physical fight coming to fruition.

Vision was looking completely out of place, fidgeting in his chair, and avoiding all eye contact. He was still unsure how to proceed when tensions where so high. He far preferred when things where amicable. He still struggled to comprehensively understand the less redeeming qualities mankind displayed; such as anger and betrayal. He wondered if this was one of these situations that could be naturalised by serving the hot beverage tea. That seemed to work approximately 50 percent of the time. He couldn't quite figure out what the probable causality of success in of offering tea as diffusing a mechanism was, but he was determined he would find it.

Tony, who had attempted many unsuccessful jokes upon his entry had finally given up after realising his crowd was far too tough to crack and had gotten down to business.

'We received the book this morning', He said after his snipe about Clint being his favourite merry man had resulted in him being called 'two-faced'.

'That was fast.' Loki observed, finally diverting his attention towards Stark.

'Well, yes. Apparently, your Asgardian librarian found it last night and sent a smoking hot representative to deliver it. Honestly, she put Xena to shame. I mean at first, I thought my boyhood dreams had come to life and that Xena had finally come to claim me as her lover. But it turns out Asgardian women are just fond of Xena's fashion sense. Oh, and angry. They are defiantly angry.'

Loki paled, which was quite an accomplishment considering Thor's skins natural tan. He didn't like where this was heading one bit.

'They agreed to deliver the book on one little condition.' Tony continue, barley noticing a change in Loki's disposition. 'She needs to see you. To ensure you are both alive, and that this isn't one of Loki's elaborate pranks.' Tony paused and picked up the receiver of a desk phone. 'Go ahead, let her in.'

A split second later the door was violently shoved open with an excess amount of force. Loki groaned in complaint, of course they had chosen to send her. It was as if they strove to find what would displease him most and then ensures it would happen. Thor, however, seemed to have had life breathed back into him. He sat up in his chair and pushed the black locks out of his face.

'Sif!' He exclaimed as she entered the room. She froze mid-stride and turned to glower at him. After a moment, she forced her face to relax. She closed the gap between herself and the table and tossed the book in her hand down with a loud thump. A thick cloud of dust rose from the books cover and pages as it settled on the table. Sif inhaled deeply and placed her hands on her hips before she spoke.

'Is it true?' She demanded. She looked from Thor's body, too Loki's and then back again. 'Well?'

'It is, my friend.' Thor said in Loki's low voice. She met the green gaze of his eyes, it was as if she was searching for something within them. Maybe if she stared long or hard enough she would be able to find the glint of blue she'd always loved. But she couldn't find even a trace of her beloved prince it the depths of that callous green.

'I don't believe you!' She shouted, her face turning red with rage. In an instant, she was on him. She grabbed him by the nape of his neck and forced him off his chair and onto the ground. She raised a fist, prepared to hit him. Natasha had jumped to her feet and was about to attack. Clint had an arrow slang and trained on Sif's back. Tony was activating his wrist watch so that it would transform into Iron Man's glove. Vision merely looked aghast with the turn of events.

But before anyone could make another move Loki jumped the table and spear-tackled Sif with the full weight of Thor's body. The impact knocked the wind out of her and her eyes went wide as she gasped for breath. A few inches away from her Thor too was struggling to catch his breath and rubbing furiously at his neck

'As entertaining as that truly was, my Lady,' Loki drawled in Thor's deepest tone, meeting her large brown eyes with Thor's brilliant blue. 'I can assure you that once again you have arrived at the wrong conclusion. It's become rather a habit of yours, don't you agree? When Thor eventually finds Odin, I will gladly recount the one time that you assaulted the Crown Prince.'

' .me' She grunted out.

'If you really insist. I was just starting to have fun.' Loki winked menacingly at her and to his absolute horror Sif blushed in response. He retreated from her and allowed her to stand once more.

'Prove it.' She demanded as she found her feet and bushed herself off.

Thor was about to speak but Loki cut him off.

'Remember when you were eleven?' He asked. Sif stiffened, and her upper lip curled.

'How could I forget?'

'How could you?' Loki smirked. 'I snuck into your room in the sparing quarters while you slept.'

'Everyone single member of the court knows this story.' Sif growled. 'You cut off my hair. It proves nothing.'

'But what none of the courtiers know is that while I was cutting your hair into that rather ravishing style I discovered you had a large birthmark behind your left ear. A rather ugly mole. You really should have it seen too. Quite frankly it denotes your beauty.'

Sif hissed angrily. 'You swine.'

'I always adore your complements, so thoughtful.'

Thor was back on his feet and pushed himself in-between the pair, forcing them to keep an arms distance from other another.

'Both of you, enough!' He roared.

'Tea, anyone?' Vision interrupted. All head snapped towards Vision, all eyes glaring in disapproval.

'Vision,' Tony sighed. 'For the last time, it doesn't fix everything.' _Make that 49 percent of the time._ Vision thought as he quickly processed the data to find that elusive causality.

Six hours. It had taken an entire six hours for the team to convince Sif to return to Asgard. At first, she had been so apologetic to Thor that it had worn on everyone nerves. So much so that the entire team began to take turns in trying to console her and coax her into going home. Thor keeping telling her it was fine and that she had acted with good intentions, and was therefore already forgiven. Loki, however kept reminding her that she had assaulted the prince, undoing everyone's good work. Eventually Natasha had to place him in a head lock and treated to castrate him in may imaginative and unspeakable ways if he so much as uttered it to Sif one more time. When they finally managed to get Sif to understand that it was ok, and no one was going to tell Odin, she had begun re-pledging her sword and life to her Prince, in the name of their king. Thor kept telling her that there was no need. That he never questioned her loyalties. But she had the began insisting that he let her stay to protect him. To ensure that whatever curse he was under was broken and that he was restored to his normal being.

'But I can aid you.' She cried in argument as he rebuffed her once again.

'You are a good friend.' Thor replied. 'But there is nothing you can do. You will best serve me in Asgard, protecting the realm in my and the All Fathers absence.'

'I can't leave you with him.' She motioned to the spot where Loki had last stood before he grew tired of the repetitiveness of the discussions and the sound of Sif's tedious voice. He'd long since retreated to the penthouse. He wouldn't have liked to admitted it but he liked the added benefit of the penthouse being Romanoff free. 'We still can't be sure this isn't his doing.'

'He's my brother.' Thor replied resolutely.

'Thor,' Sif sighed in a sad tone, she placed a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. 'I know you still consider him to be. But would a brother do the things Loki has done? Would a brother reward your loyalty and faith with betrayal and deceptions?'

'I take your point, Sif. And I admire you for your honesty, dedication, and concern for my wellbeing. But no matter how depraved he becomes I will still be his brother.'

Sif threw her arms up in defeat. 'Have it your own way. But remember, I warned you against this.'

'Thank you, Sif. I know you've never been overly fond of Loki, but he's your prince as well.'

Sif smiled softly. 'I rue that fact everyday single day. Now, before I leave I would have a private word with my 'Prince'.'

* * *

There was a knock at his door. He glanced up from his place on the bed where he was currently perched.

'Enter,' He called, 'unless your name is Natasha Romanoff.'

The door slid open and Sif entered. Loki simply glared at her as she crossed the threshold of his room and came to stand in front of him. 'What a peculiar name.' Sif said in way of greeting.

'I'm sure the mortals think Sif an equally peculiar name. But enough with your small talk. What are you doing in my room?'

'I've come to threaten you.' She said as she leaned heavily on her unsheathed long sword for emphasis.

'So very repetitive, Sif. Where we not doing this last year, and the year before that? Maybe one of these days I'll call your bluff for exactly what it is.'

Sif beamed arrogantly at him, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. 'Do it then. Call my bluff and see what happens.'

Loki remained silent.

'I thought not.' She ceased leaning on the long sword and quickly returned it to its fastenings upon her back. Then she sat on the edge of the bed next to him. Loki eyed her warily. She had never been willingly this close to him before, unless it was to land a physical blow.

'If you are behind this in any way possible-'

'You will kill me.' Loki finished for her. 'So very predictable.'

'Yes,' Sif agreed. 'If when this is over there is so much as a hair out of place on his head-'

'You'll kill me.' Loki rolled his eyes, this was becoming tedious.

'Exactly.'

'Fascinating stuff. This has been _truly_ enlightening Sif, I can't wait for our next little chat.'

Sif chuckled and patted him on the back in a patronising manor. 'Oh, I'm not done yet.' She hissed. She moved closer to whisper in his ear.

'I see the way you look at him. I've seen it for years now.'

Loki froze, his eyes went wide with shock. For once he was utterly speechless. She couldn't know, no one could know. It would destroy him. He did want to imagine his fate if the All Father discover his secret, and if Thor where to find out he would almost certainly disown Loki as his brother. Not that it should matter to him. Wasn't that what he wanted? For Thor to leave him alone for good and let Loki live his own life free from the looming shadow he cast? For Thor to finally recognise that they were not brothers, never where.

'How could I miss it, when I have looked at him in the same fashion for so long now? I may never have Thor.' Sif said casually. It clearly hurt her to voice this fear but she continued despite the pain in her heart. 'I know I might lose him to that mortal woman. The one who calls herself a scientist. I've learned to be at peace with that. I want him to be happy, that all. And for a time this Jane woman succeeded in making him so. But then you came back, and burnt it all to the ground. You ripped it to shreds with your deceptions and your flare for the dramatic. Do you know how long he suffered the first time when he thought you dead? It took me weeks to get him out of your bedchamber. He ate, slept, and breathed that room. And the second time he fled to this miserable planet to fight with these Avengers. He shunned Asgard for an entire year, but you know that. You continued to rule us under deception, masquerading as the King and you allowed us all to think you dead. You do nothing by leave agony and pain in your wake.'

Loki wanted to hit her. Hit her harder than she had ever been hit before. Why was he telling her everything he already knew? Clearly, Sif delighted in verbally abusing. She always had.

'What I am saying is, what you desire is unnatural. You will always be his brother. All you ever do is cause him pain. The mortal could make him happy again if we let her try, she could give him a happiness neither I nor you ever could. He loves you, but how could he ever love you like that? Considering who you are and what you have done?'

She reached into one of her sleeve pockets and pulled out a small leather bound book about the length and width of her palm. It was tattered and beginning to show signs of decay. She placed it in his hand, and in doing so she softly caressed the tips of his fingers. Although he didn't instantly jerk away from the intimate touch, Loki could not help but felt ill as she allowed her fingers to slip over Thor's strong hands. He wanted to remind her that they were his hands now, the she couldn't touch him like that. Not now, not ever.

'The librarian gave me this as well. He said it may help. I couldn't bring myself to give it to Thor. I couldn't be the person to give him hope or reason to believe that some part of you hasn't yet been corrupt. I don't care if there is some minuscule part of you which still clings to humanity or whatever is left of your sanity. I think the realm would be better without you in it.'

Loki was attempting to ignore her continuous verbal onslaught and instead chose to focus on examining the little lather bound book. He was so inspecting it closely and had failed to noticed what Sif was doing. As fast as a flash of lighting in the night sky she leaned in and pressed a chaste, fleeting kiss to his lips. Loki recoiled backwards and cried out in disgust and protest, but she was already drawing back. She sighed, shook her head to clear her thoughts and stood to leave.

'That was my only chance.' Sif offered in way of explanation as she moved towards the door. 'Don't tell him about that kiss and I won't tell him about how sick and twisted your mind is.'

Then she was gone.

It was a fair deal and Loki intended to take it. He placed the book on his bedside table and told himself he would read it's contend later, right now he had to find a way to sanitise his lips.

* * *

Saying good-bye to Sif had been harder than Thor had expected it to be. He knew he needed her to be in Asgard. To defend it from both physical and diplomatic harm. Without him, his father or Loki present, Sif and the Warriors Three where the only high ranking military commanders left.  
Still, he wished his friend could stay and keep him company. He knew he would see her soon, after he amended his current situation and found his father. They stood on the roof top balcony. New York was truly something to behold from this height. The afternoon sun was warmer than it had been in many days and the normal smog that pressed down upon the city was barely noticeable today. He glanced towards Lower Manhattan and marvelled that the way the city seemed to almost reflect off the beautiful glass belonging to the Freedom Tower which stood tall reaching and proud towards the heavens. Sif noticed the look on appreciation upon his face, she glanced out over the skyline and took in the view.  
'I never knew the humans where capable of such beauty. I like Midgard more every time I visit'

Thor smiled at her. 'It's all rather marvellous.' He agreed. 'I hear many say that this city is an ugly blight of industrialism. Even the humans who live here insult it. But I think they fail to see the beauty because they are too close to it. I am now more sure than ever that even Valhalla would seem plain on closer inspection. Midgard has made me realise that beauty will always be underestimated and taken for granted. This planet taught me how to appreciate the smaller things again.'

'Then I am glad for you, my friend. If this planet serves you happiness the you should continue to defend it. Just make sure you remember where home is.'

'I will.'

They said their farewells before Sif took a step back and disappeared in a blazing display of light. Tony was waiting for him when he returned inside, he was holding the aged book in his hand.

'I'm going to take this to my office and have Loki examine it, see if he can find the chapter he spoke about. We'll read it and get back to you tomorrow with any possible leads. In the mean time why don't you take the night off. Watch a movie or something. You look like shit.'

Thor nodded in agreement. He had noticed Loki's skin was still particularly pale and the pain in his chest was developing into a constant and agonising itch. He felt bone tired as well and he knew he needed to rest. Suddenly his bed seemed like the most appealing place in the universe.

* * *

 **Author** **Note:** Apologies for any mistakes in this chapter, I did edit it but only once instead of my normal three or four times. This chapter was much longer than I anticipated. Sif's character kind of just started writing herself and before I knew it I was 3000 words in. Just wanted her to drop of a bloody book (hence why this chapter is named Deliverance) and the next thing I know she is dictating the story line to me. Anyway, I just wanted to say to expect that the next chapter will be a smaller one as this one was much longer than usual.


	6. Bygones

The book was fragile with age and on some of the more deteriorated pages the ink had almost completely faded into obscurity. It was written in runes which Tony could not even begin to comprehend but Loki seemed to have little trouble translating. It was clear he had studied several books such as this in the past. He would occasionally interpret the more relevant paragraphs for Tony's benefit. Thankfully the pages which described lineage curses had not yet been erased by the passage of time.

'Like I said, it's old magic.' Loki hummed more to himself than Tony as he turned yet another page. 'Even I wouldn't be able to reverse it. I don't know anyone who still works magic like this. It died out many millennia's ago. I doubt there this even a single Priest or Priestess of any of the old magic faiths left in the universe.'

'Great,' Tony said sarcastically. 'Your ancestors curse you and then promptly die without leaving any hint of a cure.'

'They weren't my ancestors.' The bitterness in his voice well hidden, but not all together impossible to detect. Tony furrowed his brow, he had overlooked it before but now he realised that Loki made a good point. He wasn't technically within the lineage line of Asgardian royalty.

'Wait, if you're not biologically related to any Asgardian royalty then how could this have been caused by a lineage curse? Thor is related to Odin, but you're not.'

'Very observant, Stark.' Loki said in a mocking tone. 'I had almost forgotten I was stolen from my planet of birth and raised by an all seeing, all knowing madman. Thank goodness you were here to remind me.'

'Talk about testy. Look, let's agree to leave me out of your Shakespearean family dramas. I'm _trying_ to help you. You're lucky that your brother happens to be one of the very few people I actually like. If it was anyone else, I would gladly leave you trapped like this forever.'

'The oaf inspires loyalty wherever he goes. You think your special?'

Tony was nearing his wits end with Loki's childlike attitude. 'You sound jealous. Do you have a problem sharing him with his friends? Or do you envy that you can't do the same?'

Blue eyes narrowed and a look of murderous intent crossed Thor's broad face. Tony had unknowing hit a nerve.

'You mortals are entirely too opinionated for your own good, no wonder you kill each other in drones.' He span the book around to face Stark and pointed to a paragraph. 'This answer your original question, there are two types of magics which can be implemented in linage curses. The first is clearly blood magic. It isolates traits that exist within blood and are passed from generation to generation. I believe you humans call this DNA. As you so kindly pointed out I share no blood traits with Thor, Odin, or any other Asgardian royalty. That rules this form of magic as a possible explanation. The second type of magic is binding magic. Binding magic works far more subtlety than blood magic. It works on the binding nature of relationships.'

Loki paused to extract a small leather book from his pocket. He opened it to a page which had been book-marked handed it to Tony. Unlike the prior book, this book this was written in some form of old English and Tony could make out just enough to comprehend what was written upon the stale yellow pages. It was a reference list of spells and curses which had been placed upon the Crown of Asgard and those who ruled it. About half way down the page was a curse listed as _Corpus Invicem_. Tony instantly recognized the Latin. He glanced up a Loki.

'Body exchange? I didn't know Asgardian's utilized Latin.'

Loki only nodded as a response and made a hasty hand gesture to encourage Tony to continue reading. Tony returned his attention to the petite ink letters. There was what Tony could only assume was some form of date written next to the Latin. He assumed that it must have stood for a moment in time which had long since passed as the small ink digits meant nothing to him. He read the script below the date carefully.

 _Corpus Invicem, enacted on this day 089/16/209 the year of the Norns._

 _Bound by the magics of binding spells to protect the descending line of royal succession regarding the Majesty of Asgard. The crown may pass between unrelated candidates via forceful occupation or regicide. However, to protect the realm form undue harm assassination may not be committed by any persons in the line of succession. This curse will be rendered null and void if either party has surrendered all emotional ties to the other party. Regicide will only be successful if one party truly believes the other is unworthy of both crown and kinship. This allows any truly underserving candidates to be eliminated from the succession._

 _Attempted assassination between two persons who still share the bond of kinship will be here forth condemned to suffer penance until which time as both parties come to understand the others grievances as it if they were his/her own._

When he finished reading Tony simply closed the book and pushed it into the middle of the table. He was sure if he tried hard enough he could find some quip which would irritate the God of Mischief just enough to fluster him all over again, but he decided that he would rather keep all his limbs firmly intact. Instead both men stared intently at the book, as if it may come to life any second and provide them with more adequate answers. After a long minute, Tony broke the silence.

'This means you still care?'

'It means nothing.' Loki insisted, crossing his arms defensively across his chest. 'It's an old spell. By now the magic is properly beginning to diminish and malfunction. Even magic isn't impervious to time.'

'They say the first stage is denial.' Tony joked and elbowed Loki playfully. Loki glowered back at him, displeasure written across Thor's handsome features.

'Well either way, looks like we're in this for the long haul. I think the curse it trying to tell you that bygones should be bygones. Forgive and forget, and all that nonsenses.'

Loki shifted his weight. He turned his attention to the closest widow and watched attentively as rain began to slide down the pane of thick glass.

'I neither forgive nor forget.' He said finally.

Tony thoughts briefly flicked to Rogers and his Winter Soldiers. His mother's face floated behind his eyelids for a short-lived moment. In his memories, she was young and beautiful, still full of hopes and ambitions. He remembered his father too, and all the good work he had been striving towards, the inventions he never made which could have changed the world. Suddenly, he realised that for once both he and Loki where in total agreement. He felt the urge to comfort the powerful god, but that would have been too weird and today had already expired its allotted amount of weirdness.

Instead he simply said; 'Bygones are never truly gone.'

* * *

 _They were in his brother's cell and it was dimly lit, the air heavy with humidity. Their gasps and soft moans where the only audibles sounds. His skin was supple and willing beneath Thor's desperate lips. He allowed his tongue to explore the line of his brother's neck, pressing the wet heat into delicate flesh. He savoured both the taste and every erotic whimper which grace Loki's flushed, plump lips. His brother's hands freely roamed Thor's broad back, nails biting into skin. Thor moaned and gripped Loki's hips tighter, pressing his thumbs possessively into two dips provided by his brother's sharp hipbones. He pressed a greedy line of open mouth kisses back up Loki's neck and found his lips. Loki reciprocated, allowing his tongue to meet Thor's and snaking a hand into his hair. Loki wrapped his legs around Thor's waist and forced them to roll. Thor suddenly found himself trapped under the weight of his younger brother. Loki's erection pressed into Thor's torso. Loki smirked knowingly and began to slowly grind his hips. Thor's heartbeat faltered for a moment before rebooting into a pounding rhythm. He growled deeply, desire thick in his blood. Instinctively he grasped Loki's firm ass checks and forcing their groins closer together, increasing the friction and hissing with pleasure as their hard cocks pressed together._

Thor awoke with a start, gasping desperately for breath. He forced himself to swallowed hard and pushed raven locks of hair away from his sweat laced forehead. He felt the pulsing of an erection against the soft fabric of his sleep pants. He stared blankly at the white ceiling paint and silently prayed to any and every universal force that this was some insane side effect of this body swap. However, if the way his heart skipped a beat when he reminisced upon the way Loki's lips had felt under his own within his dream was anything to go on then there was defiantly cause for concern. Thor rolled onto his left side and shut his eyes tightly and ignored his screaming sexual instincts.

* * *

Author's Note: Just wanted to clarify in case anyone was unsure, the 'bodyswap' does not apply to dream sequence and wasn't designed to be read as such. Loki is Loki and Thor is Thor.  
Thanks for reading :)


	7. Still Worthy

**Author's** **Note:** Explicit language warning for this chapter. Originally this chapter was meant to be a lot longer but I'm suffering though a heat wave at the moment and my brain is shot. Also I'm back to Uni this Monday, I'm hoping to stay on top of getting chapters out but study will rule my life now so they may be bigger gaps in between posting of new chapter. I apologise in advance.

* * *

The alarm had been triggered at six thirty in the morning. Thor had been brooding in a blistering hot shower, enjoying the feel of water reverberating off his back. He had been attempting to clear his thoughts and relax into the steam filling the shower cubical. The pricing ringing had taken him by surprise and made him flinch. It drilled into his head and instantly caused a dull thud to settle behind his temples. The wireless speakers which where embedded in the walls of every room in the tower began spewing out a repetitive mantra in a calm female voice.

'All available Avengers, assemble immediately in the Situation Room on level four. This is not a drill. All available Avengers, assemble immediately in the Situation Room on level four. This is not a drill.'

Sighing in dismay Thor fled the safety of the shower. He grabbed the clean pair of jeans and casual top he had laid out for himself, struggled into both garments and quickly tied Loki's long wet hair in a lose ponytail. He noted as he passed the half foggy mirror that it looked incredibly obnoxious and out of place but he didn't have the time or desire to figure out an alternative way to keep his face hair free. He hastily strode out of the bathroom, into his adjoining bedroom and out into the hallway where he encountered his brother. Loki was poking his head out of the door to his room, glaring up at the ceiling where the noise of the alarm was admitting from in the hallway. When he heard Thor approached turned his attentions on him. Thor witnessed his own blue eyes widen with shock and his jaw slack.

'What _have_ you done to my hair?' Loki seethed as the expression of shock in his eyes turned to distaste and anger. Thor raised an eyebrow.

'I could ask the same of you brother.'

Loki had allowed Thor's blond hair to become tattered with knots and clearly had neglected to brush it. He had Thor's broad chest completely exposed, the only garment he wore was a pair of sleep pants which Tony had clearly supplied as the word 'Metallica' had been repeatedly plaster in bold red letters all over the soft material.

'I was sleeping.' Loki said defensively. 'Or at least I was until this insufferable din began.'

'It's the alarm Tony had installed to signal an emergency. A governing body of political representatives the Earthlings call the U.N can trigger it at any time. It means that the world needs the Avengers.'

'Stark allows a 'governing body' to make choices for the Avengers?' Loki produced a vindictive laugh, entirely full of to much pleasure. 'Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Does he also have to raise his had to before he uses the bathroom?'

'I am in no mood for your mockery. I have to go be with my friends.' Thor made to move pass him.

'I'll come with you.' Loki said as he stepped out into the hall. It was Thor's turn to laugh.

'I don't think so.' He gave his brother a firm shove as he tried to pass, but it was now much harder to unbalance Loki than it had previously been. Loki remained unmoved, he had pursed Thor's lips and crossed his arms defiantly across his chest.

'I don't think you have a choice.' He flexed Thor's muscles in way of threat.

Thor suddenly felt completely emasculated and entirely embarrassed. He realised that he had no way of forcing Loki into anything. There was no plausible way that he could physically overpower Loki in their current state. In that moment he realised that Loki must have felt like this since they were children. Thor had always been bigger, stronger, older. Thor didn't like the tables being reversed one bit.

'Fine.' He growled in defeat. 'But for the love of our shared mother, put some clothes on!' Thor tried to ignore the smug expression which graced his own features as his brother ran back into the room to fetch more suitable clothing.

* * *

When they finally arrived the Situation Room had been teaming with action. The widescreen TV which hung at the end of the room was alive with multiple images. Tony had implemented a split screen. Live footage streamed in one corner of the screen while Director Fury was barking instruction on the other.

'The U.N. has signed off. Stark, I have my best jet coming to collect you now. You should be in L.A. within an hour after lift of. The L.A.P.D. are attempting to control the situation as we speak, military forces should be arriving now.'

Tony was humming in response as he looked over pages of documentation. Nat was slouched into a chair and was busying herself with loading her hand guns. Clint was collecting specialised arrows from a cabinet and Vision was speaking into a mobile phone in a calming and reassuring tone, occasionally pacing from one end of the room to the other.

Thor strode into the room amd made a direct line for the cabinet in which he stored Mjolnir when he stayed for extended periods in Stark Tower. He unlocked the glass cabinet and firmly gripped the worn leather handle. Effortlessly, he lifted the war hammer. He closed the pane of glass which served as a door to the cabinet and turned to walk the next cabinet which encased his Asgardian armour. He failed to notice that the entire room had plunged into deadly silence until Director Fury's voice yelled; 'Somebody explain what the _FUCK_ is happening. NOW!'

'Well,' Tony started, 'funny thing, really-'

'You better hope I start laughing _very_ soon Stark, because right now I am failing to see the humour. Why the fuck is that little shit on my planet? I'm getting real tired of these motherfucking Gods on my motherfucking planet without my expressed fucking consent! Why the fuck is he holding one of the most powerful object in the known universe? Do you want me to nuke Stark Tower?'

Nat placed her gun in its holster and stood to face the television. He demeanour remained pacifying and her expression was one of neutrality.

'Director, we can explain.' She said in a reassuring tone. She was already in her fighting gear and looked far more intimidating than she sounded. 'Loki is on Earth. We may have neglected to tell you.'

'Excuse the fuck out of you.' Fury growled as he folded his arms across his chest. Nat continued despite the deadly expression on the Director's face.

'But _that,_ ' She pointed to Thor, 'is not Loki.'

'Romoanoff, choice your next words very carefully, I do not take well to being called blind, stupid or both.'

'No, sir. What I am trying to say is that looks like Loki but it's not. I know this sounds absurd, but that's Thor.' She gestured to Thor again and then gestured towards Loki who stood eyeing the television set with extreme caution. 'And that's Loki.'

Silence returned to the room as Fury constipated this new information. His nostrils flared and he narrowed his eyes in Loki's direction, scanning what was once Thor's body for any hint of the truth.

'And you expect me to believe this?' The Director asked.

Clint step forth and into Fury's line of vision. 'Because it's true, Sir.'

Fury glance from Nat to Clint and back again. 'You both swear this to me?'

'We do.' Nat said, her tone one hundred percent serious. Fury sighed and shook his head.

'Then I guess that's good enough for me. I can't forbid you from allowing Thor into battle in his current predicament as I am no longer the Director of S.H.I.L.D. I can only serve to convey information and advice to you. However, I _strongly_ advise you don't allow Thor to fight while he looks like that.'

The teamed exchanged glances with one and other.

'You will always be director to me, director.' Tony said in a slightly teasing tone. 'However, I don't know if you noticed, but we've been a few Avengers down of late. I don't know if we could afford to spare Thor.'

Fury shifted uncomfortably in the chair he was perched in. 'I've had my say, the choice is yours.'

'I want to fight.' Thor said firmly. 'My friends, I want to be with you. To fight gloriously by your side.' He waved his hammer in a declaration of proof. 'If mighty Mjolnir still deems me worthy then I shall take my rightful place by your side.'

Loki rolled his eyes at the righteousness of Thor's loyalty inspiring speech. 'We get it, you're still as 'worthy' as ever. You are yet to be tainted by the corruption which is so inherently built into my vessel. How touching. But that doesn't remedy the fact that you are still trapped within my body and I in yours. What will the civilian humans think when they see the intergalactic menace Loki wielding faithful Thor's hammer and fighting alongside the Avengers? Call it a spoiler, but I would say that would be rather out of character for me, would you not agree?'

Thor's face instantly fell, making Loki's thin lips form a pout and the green of his eyes echo with disappointment.

'Ok, let's not get hasty here.' Tony said. 'Loki makes a good point. But this is Loki we are talking about here. Wouldn't he want us to be at our weakest. He wants us to fear the general public's reaction. He wants us to go out there without Thor and get slaughtered. We're Rogers, Maximoff and Banner down. I've called in some reinforcements but it won't be enough. Thor can still lift the hammer and that makes him the most powerful person here. Even trapped in Loki's body he's still hard to kill, I think Loki proved that when he attacked New York. Thor is our biggest weapon.'

'Mr. Stark is right.' Vision said as he finally hung up his mobile phone. 'I was just speaking with the vice president, he wants us to put all our resources into this. There may be repercussions but I propose we deal with those after Los Angeles is secured. My only concern is that we cannot leave Loki in the tower by himself while we battle. He is a flight risk, it would be the perfect moment for him to flee or attack. We would be aiding Los Angeles while simultaneously condemning New York.'

Loki curved Thor's lips into a smug smile. 'It seems you all know me too well.'

'The there is only one thing to be done.' Tony said with sardonic grin. 'Vision, would you be so kind as to retrieve the cuffs which Thor brought Loki to earth in?'

Loki's grin instantly fell from Thor's face. 'No.'

'Oh, yes. Suit up, space boy. You're coming with.'

Loki was about to argue when a young man came stumbling over his own feet into the room. He was in sneakers which were about to fall apart and his face was brimming with the innocents of youth. He had a long red garment tossed over one arm.

'Hi.' He said as he rubbed the back of his head with his spare hand. He glanced towards Thor in the fair corner of the room and his eyes drifted down to the hammer held loosely in Loki's slim pale fingers. 'I'm Peter. Is _that_ Mjolnir? Oh, so cool. Can I hold it?'

'Everybody, meet the reinforcements, reinforcements, everybody.' Tony chimed in a false bravado.

Loki lifted a perfectly blond eyebrow at the new comer. 'Trust me kid, I've tried. You can't.'

'Wow, you're Thor.' Peter said excitedly. Then he pointed towards Thor. 'And you're that bad guy, right? Yeah, that's cool, I'm chill with anything.'

Loki was clearly ropeable, his expression was seething as he balled Thor's enormous hands into tight fists and practically growled at the teen.

 _'_ "That bad guy"? If I anyone even attempts to cuff me to this moron I will mutilate them and everyone they have ever loved.'


	8. Escape

The bear was green. That was the first thing he'd noticed as the jet circled over down town Los Angeles. The second thing was that it was massive. Stark had been briefing the team during the flight and Loki had listened in periodically. The general jist was that humans, especially human scientists, where the most idiotic creators in the known universe. Apparently, some postgraduate student had decided it was a good plan to try to recreate the serum that had resulted in the Super Solider, Steve Rogers. After all, it had clearly worked so well it the past, right?

Loki couldn't see the logic in testing such a dangerous serum on such a dangerous animal. Humans clearly weren't the brightest. He wondered if it was a problem with the entire species or whether it was just that tertiary education was heavily flawed upon Earth. Nevertheless, Loki was sure that this was the only galaxy in the entire universe where creating a Hulk Bear wasn't considered an idea born from insanity.

However, on the long list of Loki's current grievances the gigantic, disturbingly green bear was not even a deliberation. He'd been almost grateful to the Avengers when after his threat no one had dared to propose cuffing him to that walking fetus, Peter Parker. But unfortunately, that was where his luck had ceased. The idiotic mortals had instead decided on chaining Loki to his oaf of a brother. The entire team had agreed that Thor was the only one who stood any real change of stopping Loki if he attempted to flee. Loki was forced to begrudgingly agree with them. Because the fact was that as long as Thor continued to wield that stupid hammer of his then Loki had lost the advance of the physically stronger body. Just as the situation was beginning to sway in Loki's favour it had been snatched from his grasp by Mjolnir's alliance to Thor. To make matters worse the rings of chain which linked the two cuffs together where not long enough to allow personal space. At most he could only stand three to four foot away from Thor. And his brother's natural habit of making abrupt gestures whist he spoke was causing discord. Thus far it had resulted in Thor accidentally punching Loki in the nose, and twice it had caused Loki to lose his balance, thrusting them both down onto the cold metal of the aircraft's floor. Both Thor and Loki where beginning to sow seeds of conflict among the rest of the team as there verbal and physical squabbling began to irritate the others. Loki certainly did not look forward to having to enter battle like this.

The battle itself had been a frenzied fiasco. It was clear from the get go that the Avengers where at their weakest after stuffing the loss of Rogers and Banner. Romanoff and Barton had worked exceedingly well together but that was the only credit Loki could provide. Stark was practically reduced to Parker's overqualified babysitter. Every second word which Loki overheard from Thor's intercom ear piece was a balked direction for Stark to Parker. Parker himself was an assent, no doubt. But he was easily distracted which had on multiple occasions resulted in him losing the upper hand advantage which the rest of the team had worked so hard to gain. Thor was next to useless with Loki providing dead weight. He'd quickly become infuriated at Loki, yelling curses at him and informing him that he could at least try to engage in the battle. Loki had eventually caved, not because he wanted to help in but because Thor's persistent whining grew tedious. But Loki's begrudging assistance was to little effect. All he could offer was the brute force of Thor's old body. The cuff which connected Loki to Thor was ingrained with ancient Asgardian spells which made it almost impossible to perform magic. The handcuffs where not completely infallible, and if Loki had been in possession of his own vessel there was a possibility he could have orchestrated an escape and ended this moronic escapade with the Hulk like creature. Regrettably, Thor's body had not been honed over the years to allow the natural flow of magic through his system as Loki's had.

Fortunately, Loki's luck changed within a split second. Being careless, as ever, Thor had thrown Mjolnir towards the bear's forehead. Having Loki cuffed to his dominate hand had completely thrown off Thor's aim and he had missed the bear by a mile.

'Tactful as ever, Brother.' Loki sneered as the hammer tore a large hole into the side of an abandoned city bus.

'Be quite.' Thor had grunted back, already calling the war hammer back to him.  
As Mjolnir hurtled effortlessly towards them a plan formed seamlessly within Loki's mind. He snatched Thor's wrist with his free hand and held it still. He pulled his other arm upwards so that between them the links of chain became tight and rigid. Without hesitation, he raised a leg and kicked Thor hard in the gut so that it forced his brother backwards just in time for Mjolnir to missed the hand calling for it and instead smash through the hard metal links of chain. For the briefest of moments, the breath stole from Loki's lungs as the shock of his success dawned on him. His trance was broken with the loud thump and grunt of Thor hitting the ground. Thor blinked hard and grasped tightly at his midsection. Their eyes met and the warning held within those green eyes where clear. _Don't run_. Loki sniggered joyfully as he pressed Thor's boot into his own chest, holding his brother down and using Thor's own strength to keep him captive.

'Don't look so taken aback, Thor. Like that hairstyle you insist on wearing, it doesn't become me.' He removed his foot from Thor's chest and kicked him hard in the side for good measure. He didn't exactly enjoy causing Thor so much pain but if it would allow him his freedom he would gladly do it again. While Thor heaved for breath and clutched at his side Loki hastily made his getaway. He jumped a car which had flipped on its side and began to pound pavement. He was only a few meters away from rounding the end of the street and disappearing into the forest urbanisation when he felt a shearing, hot pain in the back of his right knee. He vision swirled and his eyes went wide as he gasped out in agony. His legs crumpled beneath him and he hit the concrete like a rag doll. Seconds later he screamed as whatever had pierced the back of his shin was violently pulled free from his flesh. A hand grabbed him from behind and rolled him onto his back. Agent Barton's lips curled up into a grotesque smile as he gazed down upon Loki, a satisfied glint in his eyes.

'I've been waiting a long time for that.'

Loki cursed loudly and tried in vain to return to his feel.

'Oh, no.' Said Clint. 'You're not going anywhere.'

Vision came into view from behind the spy. He was holding Mjolnir and Loki knew what was about to happen. He struggled against Clint who forcefully held him down.

'No.' He panted desperately while he unsuccessfully tried to shuffle backwards to elude their grasp.

'I am sorry.' Vision said as he laid Mjolnir upon Loki's chest and effectively pinned him to the spot. 'But you shouldn't have attempted escape.'

* * *

Thor didn't think it was possible but the flight home was far more tense than the one before. The battle had clearly drained them of any good spirits. They had fought for three hours to no avail. Thor had thought they would all die fighting that monstrous bear. That it would be the end of them all. Nothing they had done seemed to have any effect on the beast. They had only been saved at the eleventh hour when Captain America and his team had shown up and saved their asses. Between Wanda Maximoff and this Scott Lang bloke that Thor had not heard of before the battle had been won. Wanda had used her powers of mind control to spook the bear into a confused and frightened fever while Lang had magically become the size of a building and battled the disorientated bear out to the coastline where he had then held him down in the waters until it had drowned. When it had all come to an end Tony tried to thank Steve on behalf of their team and for a while all had seemed good, but one ill-timed joke had led to rampant argument and the turmoil at the heart of the issue had boiled over until each team was forced to go their separate ways before yet another skirmish broke out. Loki was refusing to make even the slightest of eye contact with anyone and Thor was fighting the urge to hurl him from the plane and let him plummet to the earth. The only emotion he had left was rage. He was beyond angry that Loki had dared to deify him yet again.

When they landed at Stark Tower Thor silently grabbed Loki by the neck of his top and practically dragged him out of the plane and back to the penthouse without exchanging a single with anybody word. Loki had hissed and complained about the pain of being forced to walk on his wounded leg but Thor cared little. When they arrived in the lounge room he shoved deposited Loki on the couch and left to search for the medical supplies. He returned with fresh bandages and warm water and silently went about tending the wound to the back of Loki's shin.

Loki watched him for a long moment. 'What are you doing?' He eventually asked in an even tone.

'What it looks like I'm doing. Tending to the wound.'

'Why?'

Thor glanced up into his own blue eyes. 'Because, this is my leg. And when I get it back I want it to be completely functional.' He paused to considered his next words. 'My wrath is strong, I would not court my rage if I were you. But despite that you're still of Asgard, you're still my brother. I would not have you left wounded and without care.'

Loki diverted his eyes downward to the wound. The room became hushed as Thor continued his work. The cut was deep and would clearly be painful for many days to come despite their natural healing abilities. He tried to tell himself that Loki had deserved this, that this was a just punishment for his attempted escape. He tried to remain as angry as he had been on the plane, but the longer he tended to his brother the harder it became to remain enraged. As he wrapped the soft cotton bandage around the injured leg he found himself speaking.

'Why did you run?'

Loki scoffed quietly at the question and run a wide hand through blond locks.

'Don't be so dim witted, Thor. I ran to escape you and your repugnant friends. I ran to be free of you.'

Suddenly it felt like it was not just the events of that day that they were talking about. Thor's seemingly innocent question began to entail more. Thor shifted his weight and glanced up into his own face. He reached out and wrapped Loki's pale fingers around a golden-brown hand and rubbed his thumb in over the skin in soothing circles.

'You can keep running, brother. Run to the end of the universe and beyond. You will never escape our family, our love.'

Loki appeared furious. He snatched his hand back as if Thor's touch had burnt him. He grabbed the closest object in his immediate vicinity and hurled it at Thor's head. Surprise took Thor momentarily. He only narrowly avoided the collision. The book whirled past him, grazing his left temple, and causing a stinging sensation as the corner of the hard cover book scratched against his skin. The resulting thump was deafening, and it became clear just how much sheer strength and force Loki had propelled it with when it tore a hole through both sides of Stark's wall. The resulting distraction was all that Loki had needed and within a heartbeat his brother was upon him. Loki landed a punch to Thor's upper check bone which toppled Thor towards the ground, but determined to take Loki with him he instinctively grabbed to the arm which had just assaulted him. He clung to it with all his strength, which was just enough to heave his old body of the couch and bring it down with him. Loki was shouting in Thor's booming barrow tone while sententiously attempting to strange Thor. Loki's long thin neck was not match for Thor's old hands, so Thor tried to avert contact by all means possible which resulting in him slapping and pinching at Loki's exposed skin.

'Love! You speak of love!? You deserted me in a vast void.'

'A void of your own making!' Thor hurled back, landing a knee cap into hard abdominal muscles which caused pain to both.

'You big oaf!' Loki growled, likely out of habit more than observation. 'Yes! A void of my own making. Did it never occur in your thick skull that -oh! Ouch!- that was when I needed my older brother most!'

Thor had reached the bottom of the barrow in his desperation and was attempting to bite Loki's limbs. A tactic he had only every in the past resorted to in a few of his more drunken of brawls.

'Fine! I wasn't there when you needed me. Does that make you happy? I have – FUCK! Loki! That hurt! - been trying to make up for it every second of every hour of every day since. I didn't see it, I didn't know! How could I? You hid it so well, it wasn't until you let go that night on the bifrost that I understood. What more recompense do you need from me brother?'

Loki finally paused, frozen still. Thor's took the few spared seconds of retrieve to try and restore himself to a normal breathing pace and to wiggle to space between the two but he found his old body was far too heavy to let him gain as much as even an inch.

'I-' Loki stuttered as he stared blankly at a space upon the floor just above Thor's head. "I don't know.'

Thor suddenly felt completely taken aback by his brother's softly whispered confession. He had no clue what he could say to something as honest and raw as that. At the same time it felt as if a weight had just been lifted from his shoulders, that he could breathe again after so long. Loki had, in his own way, just admitted that Thor wasn't entirely to blame. That the gaping tears and chronic wounds which had infested their once strong sibling relationship had grown beyond even Thor's repair. Knowing that it wasn't from lack of trying on Thor's behalf to save his brother was comforting in a bizarre way. Blue eyes suddenly met green as Loki stared intently at his old face. Thor felt something odd in his stomach swell. He'd never liked his own eyes, well, he'd like that they were blue like his father's. But he'd never liked looking at them, never understood why maidens had been 'drawn to them' Fandral had once so delicately put it. He'd always been secretly envious of Loki's green gaze. But for a moment he found himself irrevocably fascinated with his own eyes. There was something oddly familiar about the depth, the shift from light to dark, the intense focus. It was then Thor realised that Loki had found a way to make Thor's eyes his own. He may have been staring into blue pools, but for all intents and purposes he may have well have been gazing into green.

'It's okay not too know.' Thor mumble, a little embarrassed by under the attention of scrutinising eyes.

'What if I'm lost?' Loki breathed. 'Then I'll find you.' Thor replied, attempting to sound reassuring, the way he had in days now long past, when he had been more sure about almost everything. Now he was stuck in his brother's body, and it felt as if Loki may as well still be trapped in the cells of Asgard for all the good it did. In truth, Thor was no longer sure of anything. Thor sighed softly and closed his eyes. He felt himself reach up and place a hand into long hair, at the base of his own skull and pull Loki forward until their forehead touched, just in the way they had done when they were little and one of them where distressed. Thor felt it was comforting, but obviously, Loki disagreed. After only a few quite seconds he was pulling away.

'Just don't touch me.' He pushed away and began to stand, leaving Thor to the cold ground. "Leave me alone. I just want to sleep."

Thor simply stared up at him from his spot on the carpet. Loki turned and started to waltz moodily towards his bedroom, his pride only allowing Thor a hint of a limp. As the broad back retreated into the hall away Thor took a moment to consider Loki's temperamental ways. Thor should have apologised to his mother before she left for Valhalla. Apologise for those rambunctious teenage years. He was only now beginning to understand how troublesome he had been, in his more wrathful instants and cocksure outburst. When he found his father, he would beg forgiveness from him too. Loki was still so young in the scheme of things, he'd only become a man in the last century. Maybe if Thor prayed hard enough, one day they could chalk these last few years down to residual growing pains. A left over reminisce of puberty.

* * *

Authors Note: If you're interested in the music that inspires a chapter there have been a few songs that have influenced me while I write. I haven't mentioned them in past chapters because I didn't feel like 100% of the inspiration came from the songs I was using to help me write. But if you're interested this chapter was almost 100% due to Enrique Iglesias' song 'Escape' and the chapter is named after it. Hope you enjoyed the read.


	9. Scourge of the Earth

p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Thor had been watching the TV in the penthouse living room when Tony found him. The sounds of the afternoon news filled the vast room making the reporters voice echo in an eerie self-mockery. He instantly noticed the expression Thor was pulling which distorted Loki's features and made Tony feel ill at ease. There was a stormy glint to the jade coloured eyes and the otherwise petite, straight nose was scrunched tightly. This faced the production of fine lines, all gathered on the bridge of his nose. It matched the frown which was firmly fixed upon his forehead and made his eyebrows furrow and knit together, the left side of his top lip curl up in disgust./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"It didn't take long for Tony to discover what produce such a foul response from Thor. He noticed that the God of Thunder had his eyes glued restlessly to the television. He was occasionally balling his fists together and grunting in displeasure. The male reporter was clearly attempting to keep his tone of voice impartial and objective but he was failing in a rather spectacularly manor./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'The altercation was sparked in downtown Los Angeles in the early hours of this morning. It's believed that the in bear in question escaped from the laboratories of the Californian State University. A full investigation has been lunched into the circumstances surround his escape. Police and military efforts to control the situation where unsuccessful, though all civilians were evacuated and there were no casualties. Tony Stark and the vigilant organisation known as the Avengers are yet to make any official comments on today's events. However, the Department of Homeland Security have released an official statement condemning the team of enhanced individuals and are demanding a formal enquiry into today's events. In the statement the Director of Homeland security openly critiqued the Avengers incentive insinuating that it's continued existence is a danger to society and formally called for a warrant of arrest for the Asgardian war criminal known as Loki Odinson. It is hoped that formal inquest will reveal the exact details surrounding his presence on Earth, and how he came to be in possession of his brother's deadly war hammer. The catastrophe was averted after the Avengers contained the beast in the ocean and downed it, resulting the death of the bear. The coast guard and environmentalist organisations are actively working to clear the scene, civilians are recommended to avoid the St. Monica coastline until the clean-up has been completed.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The footage which was being played as the reporter spoke showed Loki fending of the bear while brandishing Mjölnir. To the unsuspecting civilian it would look as if Loki was on the loose and the Avengers where allowing him to run about unchecked. He doubted the excuse 'But that's not Loki', would go down very well, and Tony shuttered to think what would happen if he made a told the international press that 'it's magic, you just have to trust us'. Tony grimaced and wished he had waited ten more minutes before hunting out the God of Thunder. He sighed quietly and then himself he forced himself to clear his throat in way of greeting./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Thor tilted his head towards Tony. The expression of anger upon his face softened slightly and he attempted to offer a warily smile. The smile wasn't at all as convincing as Thor would have wanted it to be, it never reached his eyes. Nevertheless, Tony appreciated the effort all the same./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'Look man, about today,' Tony started, but Thor raised a slim hand to quite him./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'I am fine, friend. I simply need to rest.' Thor settled himself more deeply into the cushions of the couch as he spoke. 'Thank you for your concern.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Tony was thankful he wasn't a blusher as the awkwardness washed over him./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'Ah, that's not why I'm here.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Thor perked up a little and began to eye him in a suspicious manor. Tony decided to sit on the coffee table in front of Thor and clasped his hands together before he next spoke./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'We have a small problem.' He said./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Thor raised an eyebrow. 'How small is small, Tony?'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Tony grimaced again. 'Um, well maybe a moderate sized problem. I have every news reporter on the planet hounding me to realise a statement or comment. I've just finished a phone call with Fury. He says he has intel that the arrest warrant Homeland are demanding will be finalized by tomorrow. If we don't attempt to stabilize the situation right now you may be sitting in a prison cell by this time tomorrow.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Thor leaped to his feet faster than Tony believed humanly possible./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'They can't do that!' Thor insisted./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'They can.' Tony assured him as he too found his feet. He raised his hands up and gestured a surrender in an attempt to appear to Thor's rational side./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'The team and I won't let that happen, Thor. But we do need you to work with us here. When the world watches that footage they see a supervillain unleased on one of the world's biggest cities and fighting with one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. We need to address the situation, put the publics minds at ease.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Thor's face dropped and all the fury residing in his body seemed to evaporate. It was replaced by a look of bitter defeat that didn't belong upon Loki's face./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'I was defending them. I was helping.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'We know that. The footage shows that, but that's not what people perceive when they watch that same footage, and that's not what the news will propagate. Loki has killed multiple people. I don't know about Asgard, but here on Earth there isn't a statute of limitations when it comes to crimes of mass murder and attempted genocide. Loki is a murderer. That is a fact regardless of him being your brother or not and right now everyone believes you are Loki.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The frown was starting gather on Thor's forehead again. 'What do we do?' He asked./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Tony clapped him reassuringly on the shoulder. 'We give them what they want, we make a public statement and hold a press conference.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The light returned to Thor's eyes and this time his smile was genuine. 'That is quite a plan, Stark. I should have known better than to doubt you. Once we explain, all will be well again.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Tony chucked nervously. 'It's not that simple.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'Of course, it is! All we must do is be honest with these reporter people. We tell them that I am the Thor and that they cannot arrest Loki on my orders.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'I don't want emyou/em to talk to any reporters. I want you to stay in this penthouse. Nat and I will speak with the reporters.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Thor seemed slightly crestfallen but shrugged his shoulders. 'If you think it best.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'I do, and I think Loki should join us.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The wrath was already beginning to return. 'No.' Thor said simply as he folded his arms across his chest. 'I will not expose him to the mob calling for his arrest.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'They are calling for emLoki's/em arrest.' Tony remined him in a firm tone. 'Not emThor's/em.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Green eyes scrutinized Tony as he continued. 'You have done heroic work on Earth, Thor. The general public like you, at least for the most part. They trust you, you're a benevolent God to them and they believe you wise due to great age. They don't yet understand Asgardian culture, they don't see you as equal to humans. They see you and Loki in black and white, good, and bad. God and Satan. You're a deity and because of that they trust you blindly. You have a reputation which goes back thousands of years and has been passed down through myth and legend. And I know most of it isn't true, but they don't.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Thor blinked in shock and tried to process Tony's ramblings. 'What is it you mean to say, Stark? That Loki may never be redeemable in the eyes of Midgard, despite all of his efforts?'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Tony decided to throw cation the wind and speak earnestly. 'Yes. That's exactly what I'm trying to say. And just as Loki will always symbolise fear you will always counteract that fear. You're a force of reassurance and calm. I propose we have Loki pretend all is fine. That we have him act as you and not raise suspicions. We release a statement which acknowledge Loki is indeed here in New York but that he is under arrest and in your care. We say that Thor is Loki's custodian and anyone who tries to remove him from your custody is committing an offence against Asgard. I can't get you diplomatic immunity when our planets have no political interactions but I can insinuate to the CIA, Homeland and the Government that any attempt to make a formal arrest would result in a blight to Asgard. The implications of offending Asgard may be enough to gain us more time.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Thor was silent for a long minute. He began to worry his bottom lip with his teeth./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'None of this allows for Loki to redeem himself. What will I do if I am stuck in within his vessel for the rest of our natural lives? Am I to live my life despised by all of Midgard?'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Tony had to feel sorry for him at that moment and he wished he had some quick quip or snark which could lighten the mood. However, he was far too tired from the day's activities to engage his wit at that moment. Tony thought Thor looked rather defenceless and verging on pathetic. It was not a state of mind Tony had ever witnessed Thor entre before./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"'We will fix this situation.' Tony said firmly. 'I refuse to put up with an arsehole like your brother being in control of your super strength. I would like Stark Tower to remain intact for as long as humanly possible. Listen, before the call came in this morning for 'King Kong take two' I was on my way to tell you about what we discovered in those old books last night. Whatever this is,' He gestured at Thor, 'it's because of an ancient curse. Long story short there is a remedy, but it won't be easy.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Excitement flooded Thor's face and he clapped Tony on the shoulder. 'Tell me, Stark, what is it. I shall do anything; no task is too tiresome, no expense to high.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Tony simply shook his head. 'It's not like that, Thor. You and Loki need to repair whatever is broken between you. You need to come to some serendipitous moment or some bullshit. As far as I can tell you need both need to have some serious 'ah-ha' epiphany. When you killed Loki, you unlocked some serious voodoo crap. Pissed of the Asgardian version of Mother Karma or something. Now I guess you just have to try and mend your burnt bridges. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but you need to trust in Loki. Not something I would ever advise to anyone when regarding that shit stain of a younger brother of yours but the spell is only able to work if both parties still hold an investment in their shared relationship. Some bonding magic doodad that is beyond me.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The fear on Thor's face spoke volumes. 'If that is the case then I fear Loki and I may be stuck like this forever. I do not know if our old comradeship is still salvageable. I doubt he even identifies with the notions of brotherhood or kinship anymore. My brother is not in there, he has been replaced by an all-consuming hate and I keep denying it, now see how it costs me and the places and people I love.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Tony raised his eyebrows and allowed himself a smug expression. 'I'm telling you man, for this spell to even be working there has to be something left. Otherwise the curse wouldn't have activated and Loki would be still be as dead as a doornail.'/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"If Tony could have named the emotion he saw in Thor's eyes at that instant, he would have called it hope. He was glad that he could provide Thor some comfort. He questioned briefly how long Thor's comfort would last considering Tony would have to ask him to convince Loki to pretend to be him at an international press conference./p 


	10. The Mother We Share

'I just want to be clear that I haven't misunderstood your nonsensically absurd plan.' Loki was perched on the edge of his bed, he had gracefully crossed Thor's right leg over his left and as he spoke he folded Thor's broad arms across his chest. With a prudent gaze, he stared directly at both Thor and Tony who stood just inside of the room, near the threshold. 'You want me to pretend that I am in fact Thor, and convince the entire population of this redundant, pitiful excuse of a planet to believe that I have myself under guarded arrest?'

'Yes.' Said Tony as he attempted to maintain eye contact, refusing to back down. 'And if you could tell them that Thor- ah I mean… Loki? Crap this is more confusing than it has to be! – Look just tell them that during the battle Loki wasn't really wheedling Mjölnir, tell them it was just a fake imitation to designed to scare the public.'

Loki smiled, a gleeful look appeared in his eye. 'When do we start?'

Thor swallowed hard as the use of the same phrase Loki had levelled at him from within the confines of his prison cell came caused memories of his latest betrayal to come careening to the forefront of his mind. Forcefully, he made himself bury the disturbing and emotionally raw images from the night in question and instead chose to take an ominous step toward his brother.

'Last time you spoke those words you repaid the faith I placed in you with deceit and lies, why would you be so willing to obey Stark's demands now?'

Loki snorted with a roll of his eyes. 'Come now, Thor. I distantly remember you telling me that you had no trust in me. I believe the only condition of my liberation from that dank cell was that you would kill me if I dare deceive you. How could I betray a trust that was never present?'

Thor automatically closed the gap between himself and Loki and gripped his brother by the front of his shirt. Despite the increased weight of his old boy he managed to hurl his brother up into a standing position and threatening gave him a harsh sake. Long blond locks of hair lashed in his face as Loki's head jolted with the movement.

'You think I would have freed you had I truly doubted your allegiance to Asgard? Does our mother's name mean nothing to you? I freed you in her name, in her memory and on her behalf. You disgust me!'

A cold hatred filled Loki's now blue eyes and a cold chill began to inhabit Thor as he stared into the deep cobalt orbs. Before Thor could register what was occurring he perceived an unforgiving force below his collarbones. Instinctively, he let released Loki's top and attempted to utilize his arms to protect himself as he was hurled backwards. There was a resounding crunching sound when his body impacted the wall, and Thor knew there would now be a Loki's body sized dent in the wall of Stark's penthouse master bedroom.

'You dare speak to me of Mother?' Loki roared as he storked towards. The breath stole from Thor's lungs as he witnessed his brother grow ever closer. Blue eyes where clouded with a deadly fury and a look of murderous intent caused broad lips to crush into a thin, threating line. Tanned skin was flushed red from anger and Thor could barely recall ever being as frightened as he was now. In that instant, he regretted every moment in years now past that he had ever shown anyone his true wrath. He felt incredibly small and insignificant as Loki grew closer and wished with all his might that he could force himself to become invisible.

'Our mother would be shamed by your pride, _Odinson_.' He spat the name as if it where the greatest insult to ever be uttered.

'Oh, no,' Tony cried as he came between the two, stopping Loki in his tracks. He held both arms outstretched, placing two armlength between the pair and allowed his eyes to dart between Thor's pitiful position on the floor and Loki who towered over them both. 'I would normally ask that we leave the mothers out of this, but in this case I suggest we drop the plurals and simply leave your _mother_ out of it. I have had a shit of a week thanks to you two. I know better than anyone that shit happens in shit loads but I swear to any God, if either of you inflict any more damage to the walls of this penthouse then you won't need to reminisce on your mother for long because I will Frigga your arses and a good grounding will be the _least_ of your concerns. Do you understand?!'

There was no reply from either brother, but Tony took that as the best form of agreeance he was going to receive. Silently he bent down and helped Thor back to his feet as Loki glared at them both.

'Alright.' Tony declared as the room stilled. 'Now, I don't normally care for playing referee and it makes me feel all icky just saying this, but I think you owe each other an apology.'

The was a pause as everyone simply glared at one and other. Loki was eyeing Thor defiantly and Thor was impishly watching both Loki and Tony, clearly not wanting to be the one to speak first. Tony exhaled in exasperation and endeavoured to steel himself

'NOW!' He yelled in an all-encompassing and parental tone. He was far too young for this responsibility and he was certain it would send him to an early grave. He swore in that moment he would never become any little brat's father, especially if all children where as petty, insecure, and immature as Thor and Loki.

Thor was the first to mutter a forlorn apology which was barely audible. Loki simply inclined his head to one side and gestured his hand in a way which indicated he backed the sentiment.

'Right, well that could use some improvement. Naming no names,' Tony shot Loki a disgruntled look. 'but it's good enough for now. If we could return to the civilised conversation we were partaking in before you pulverized my master bedroom? Now, Thor made a reasonable point, why are you so willing to help us?'

Some of the fury vanished from Loki's expression and an ominous smirk crossed his lips.

'Why not? Mascaraing as Thor while the entirety of Midgard watches on? Why would I miss an opportunity like that?'

Thor and Tony shared a weary glance.

'You think I will allow you to pretend to be me now?' Thor asked, clearly disliking the turn of events.

'I do. In fact, I am sure that you need me to partake in this plan or you would not have come to ask in the first place. So, allow me to ask once more, when do we begin?'

Thor had insisted on being present during the press conference. He had unsuccessfully tried to convince the others that it would reassure the public to see Loki firmly under Thor's control, sitting in the room and following all instructions. But the team had disagreed for varied reasons, such as Thor and Loki entering yet childish spat, only this time on live T.V. In the end, he had been once again forcibly confined to the penthouse. He was beginning to form a district intolerance to being confined under such duress. Absent-mildly he fidgeted with the lining of the jeans which he had chosen to wear. While he wasn't growing accustom to being confined he was acquiring a mounting fondness of comfortable Midgardian clothing. The light of the television filled the room and distant hum of people talking behind the camera and the scrape of chair legs against floor filtered through into the spacious penthouse living room. Vision floated nearby, somewhere behind Thor. Vision was clearly choosing not to sit next to him and Thor would be lying if he said that didn't smart ever so slightly. Thor was currently trying venomously to ignore the knowledge that Vision was not here in the capacity of friend, but instead acting as his gaoler. The team had agreed to let Thor watch the broadcast on the single condition that Vision could detain him if he became enraged and showed even the slightest inkling of intervening the broadcast which was being held far below them on the ground floor of the tower.

Thor turned his attention back to the flat screen when he heard Tony's voice boom into the room.  
'We will be commencing the press conference at this time. I'd like to thank you all of taking the time out of what I am sure are hectic schedules to attend.'

Tony was sat behind a white table with Clint and Natasha sat on either side of him. Despite being inside and attending a formal press conference Tony had still opted to wear his dark sunglasses which feed into an air of accumulating arrogance. Tony tilted his head to the right and glanced at Nat over the brim of the sunglasses. Nat appeared tight lipped, slightly paler than normal and she wore what seemed to be a permanent scowl upon her face. She inclined her head in a slight nod. Tony took this as the cue to continue. He clapped his hands together in a grandiose motion and resumed in a tone which hinted at his cynicism concerning this entire charade.

'Regarding the latest events which occurred in Los Angeles in the last 24 hours, we would like to address your concerns. It was not the intent of any of the extended members of the Avengers to cause any dismay or collateral damage to the downtown or coastal areas. We acknowledge that despite our efforts this has occurred. We would like to make it very clear that at the time of the incident we we're acting within our legal derestriction as dictated in accordance with the binding lawful documents known as the Sokovia Accords. My team and I received U.N. approval to intervene on this matter and while we mourn the damage done to Los Angeles and the Californian people, none of whom were harmed may I add, we refute the claims that we acted irrationally and without cause. I would publicly shame the Director of Homeland security as a fool for the comments he so brassy made. The Avengers initiative may not be the what the world wants, or what it once needed, but now that we exist, it has become clear that due to outside threats we cannot at this time dismantle. I and my team, barring agent Barton, have singed the fore mention documents and continue to act within the law. However, I do not represent or justify the actions of Steve Rogers and his sub outlet of enhanced individuals and I have no comment on his involvement in this situation.'

Tony paused and glance towards what appeared to be Thor, who was sat next to Barton for safe keeping.

'Now, I know you all have questions regarding what I have just said, but first I would like to let Thor address some of the wider concerns that I know everyone in this room shares.'

Clint slapped the false Thor on the shoulder in a way which would have looked to an outsider to be fuelled by comradeship and appeared to show him standing with him in steadfast. However, Thor knew that that was far from the truth. It was in fact a threat. I threat to which was designed to remind Loki of what they had agreed upon. Sharp blue eyes ogled Clint's hand in a malicious manor until the hand finally was removed for the shoulder. Eventually, Loki inclined Thor's blond head to the camera and fixed it with a foolhardy smile that made him look slightly intellectually underdeveloped.

'Being the lumbering brute I am,' Loki started with a voice which was far too gleeful for Thor's liking. He was already deviating from the agreed upon script and Thor had to ball his hands into fist and bite his bottom lip in order to maintain a presence of calm.

'I thought it prudent to bring my villainous brother with me while I attended some businesses here on your planet. Stupid, I know but sometimes I just can't help myself, it's as if it runs in my blood or something equally as profound.'

This was defiantly _not_ what they had agreed upon and Nat was staring at the fake Thor, her mouth slightly agape and eyes wide. Tony was frantically looking between Nat and Clint, pausing to occasionally elbow Clint under the table while Clint was busy glaring angrily at his supposed captive. Nevertheless, the room's attention was upon Loki and none of the hoarded masses of reporters seemed to notice this odd behaviour.

'Now I know this isn't what we agreed upon,' Vision said as he noted Thor's mounting distress. 'But the rest of the panel can't very well interrupt Loki without causing suspicion. He hasn't said anything yet which would jeopardise our plan.'

Thor's deep voice continued to fill the room as Loki exercised to its full use for the camera.

'No doubt that it was a huge oversight on my part. I find I am prone to making rash choices where serious matters are concerned. It's highly unlikely my future endeavours will require a disposition of patience and wit, I'm sure Asgard has courters which will take care of that type of thing when I am King. Such things are surly below me.'

Thor could have strangled him at that exact moment, Loki was lucky he wasn't in the room or he would find a way to make him pay, puny body or not. He tried to remind himself of Tony's pervious words, that he mustn't lose hope in Loki. That he must believe there was still some small semblance of his brother left that still held some form of love and kinship for Thor. But in this moment, that seemed utterly impossible. Clearly Loki though this to be a laughing matter as the smirk was still firmly fixed upon Thor's old face, a face which Thor himself was coming to loath more and more every day.

'However, I digress.' Loki continued, waving a large and as if he had flustered himself while making his eyelids flutter innocently. 'I would like to you assure everyone watching that I have the traitorous war criminal Loki under my command. He is currently under my own arrest and that is why he is here with me on your Earth. It has been settled upon Asgard that I am his current custodian. While the Avengers team and I understand your grievances with his presence here on Earth I can assure you that he is unable to leave my side. Any act which serves to remove him from my presence will be considered an act of warfare against the Crown of Asgard and will be dealt with in such a manor. That being said, I would like to take this opportunity to remind the extended audience that Loki is incredibly unstable and dangerous. He is cunning and his intellect far outweighs mine, that's been evident since we were children.' Loki paused to smile sinisterly straight down the barrel of the camera which filmed him. Thor knew beyond any doubt that the smile was wholly intended for him. Objectively, Thor could see how this could be mistaken as an brad, easy smile and audience would obviously believe it so, but Thor knew better. 'He is a corrupt shadow of his former self and I recommend high vigilance should you happen to encounter him.' There was a long pause and the room grew silent, all eyes still on the false Thor. Finally, Loki produce a light heart chuckle in Thor's deep tone. 'Not that that will ever happen while he is under my care.' He slapped the table with a false sense of mirth, imitating Thor so perfectly that for the minutest of seconds even Thor was convinced with his act.

'Any questions?' He boomed with a wide-open smile. A flurry of voices began to intersect as the off-screen reporters fought over the right to ask the first question.

Tony sighed loud enough for everyone to hear and visibly rubbed at his temples. Clearly, he was an old hand at this as he pointed out into the assembled audience and said 'Sharron, go.'

A delicate female voice filed through the television. 'Sharron Eaststone form channel eight news. Thor, if I may ask. What business brought you to New York, or indeed Earth at all?'

Loki didn't miss a beat. 'Well I had heard talk upon Asgard of these said Sokovia Accords. I thought I would pay a visit to my trusted friends and enquire over what was to be expect of me if I agreed to the terms and conditions. I haven't as yet been able to sign the document as I need more time to consider how it may impact my duty on Asgard.'

Thor had to give it to his brother, Loki's wit was still as sharp and quick acting as ever. Tony pointed to someone else of camera and said firmly 'Go.'

'Burt Cummingham, Global News. Thor, can you tell us why your brother was in possession your hammer? Per the statements you have made in the past only yourself and those who are deemed worthy of your power may lift the hammer.'

Loki threw his hands up and produced an amused laugh. 'Friends, that was just my brother performing his same old mischievous acts. He simply used his skills in the art of magic to make it appear as if he were in control of the ancient Mjölnir. 'Twas all a trick to feed your scene of fear.'

There was a collective 'Ah!' from the audience as they all happily accepted this explanation.

There where multiple questions that followed which were directed at Nat and Tony about collateral damage and expenditure and if the presence of the Avengers could ever be considered a profit as opposed to a negative. Tony and Nat artfully danced around all the questions and avoided directly answer anything. Nobody seemed to be interest in asking Clint much and for the most part he simply sat there with his arms crossed, peering occasionally at the false Thor.

Another female reporter asked yet another question. 'Thor, can you tell us when you plan to make a political marriage and whether you would consider any matches from the numerous royal families which inhabit Earth?'

Loki's chuckle was oddly disturbing to Thor, though he was sure everyone else would find it warm and entertaining. Yet Thor found himself watching with disgust as Loki wink with his own blue eyes.

'For you lovely, I would consider persons unrelated altogether with any royalty.'

Thor felt an overwhelming wave of nausea build in his stomach. He couldn't see the woman but he hoped she felt as ill as he did. Angrily, Thor snatched the remote control of the coffee table and turned the broadcast off, he had had his fill of Loki's silver-tongued antics for one day.

He turned to Vision and proclaimed: 'Can you believe his audacity? Who is he to proposition women while trapped within _my_ body.'

Vision looked affronted by the sudden out bust and floated backwards to increase the space between Thor and himself. 'I do not presume to meddle in the personal endeavours of Demi-gods. My apologies, but I am afraid I cannot comment.'

Thor grunted unhappily and crossed his arms across his chest. He wished more than anything he could escape this horrid tower. Maybe he could take his altogether too convincing younger brother with him and beat some sense into him. For the briefest of moment his sick and twisted mind dared to suggest he fuck some sense into his brother, but Thor dismissed it to the furthest compartment of his mind before it could settle and take root.


End file.
